William Shockley

William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs. He won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Early life
Shockley was born to American parents in London on February 13, 1910, and was raised in his family's hometown of Palo Alto, California. Shockley was homeschooled up to the age of eight because Shockley's history of violent tantrums. Shockley learned some physics at a young age from a neighbor who was a Stanford physics professor. 

Controversial views
While a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, Shockley became a supporter of eugenics. He is known as a controversial Nobel winner.

Shockley was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 1982 United States Senate election in California. He ran because he was against the "dysgenic threat" that he believed African-Americans and other groups created.

In the last twenty years of his life, Shockley, who had no degree in genetics, became widely known for his extreme views on race and human intelligence. He was a strong supporter of eugenics. He said that a higher rate of reproduction among less intelligent people was having a dysgenic effect, and argued that a drop in average intelligence would lead to a decline in civilization. He also claimed that black people were not as smart as white people.

Death
Shockley died of prostate cancer on August 12, 1989 at the age of 79. He did not have a good relationship with his family when he died. His children learned of his death by reading his obituary in the newspaper. 

References

Category:1910 births
Category:1989 deaths
Category:American physicists
Category:American inventors
Category:Scientists from London
Category:Scientists from California
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:People from Palo Alto, California
Category:Politicians from California
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:Nobel Prize in Physics winners