Name(s): William Shockley, John Bardeen & Walter Brattain

William Shockley
Birth/Death: Born in London on Feb. 3rd, 1910. Died in England, 1989

Occupation/Title: Dr., Professor of Engineering and Nobel Prize winning physicist.

Bio: *Graduated from Cal Tech in 1932
*Received PhD from MIT in 1936
*Worked on the radar systems of WWII 1940-45
*Discovered transistor effect alongside Bardeen and Brattain in 1947 and developed the first prototype.
*Awarded Nobel Prize in 1956
*Stanford University Professor of Engineering 1963-75

Early Life: Showed a keen sense and love of science at an early age. His father was an engineer and his mother a surveyor. His parents’ professions encouraged his scientific education.

Education: See Bio Career Outline: As relative to the history of Video games, Shockley’s work on the transistor is key to the origin of all video gaming and other electric entertainment. Transistors vastly reduced the size of computing machines by replacing large and bulky vacuum tubes. This resulted in the miniaturization of virtually all electronic equipment.

Impact on Gaming: Using transistors meant that computers could become smaller, faster, more reliable and be produced at cheaper costs. This directly led to the computers introduction to the public. Essentially allowed computers to become personal.

Personality: Though scientifically brilliant and a family man, Shockley was obsessed with racist theories of population control and eugenics. He was an avid rock climber.

Anecdotes: "The half-baked ideas of people are better than the ideas of half-baked people."

Gameography: N/A

John Bardeen

Birth/Death: John Bardeen born in Wisconsin on May 23rd 1908, died in 1991

Ocupation/Title: Dr. John Bardeen, Nobel Prize winning mathematician

Bio:
*Born May 23rd, 1908
*Ph.D. mathematics and physics, Princeton 1936
*University of Minnesota 1938 to 1941
*Bell Labs 1945
*Discovered transistor effect alongside Shockley and Brattain
*Conducted research on superconductivity at University of Illinois 1951
*Nobel Prize for co-development of the transistor 1956
*Nobel Prize for co-development of the theory of superconductivity at low temperatures
*Died at January 30, 1991

Early life/Family: One of five children, Bardeen showed an early proficiency in math and was encouraged by his teachers to pursue advanced work. His mother was involved in the arts, his father a Professor of Anatomy and the first Dean of the Medical School at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Education/Training: See Bio

Career Outline: A brilliant mathematician and theorist, Bardeen was the “brains” behind the transistor project. His theories of superconductivity found that conductors reacted well to lower temperatures. Along with Shockley and Brattain, he was an integral part in the creation of the transistor and thus the Information Age.

Impact on Gaming: See Shockley

Influences: N/A

Personality: Though a genius, Bardeen lacked the “mad scientist” twist associated with great intelligence. He was a very quiet, unassuming man who loved to host dinners for his neighbors.

Anecdotes: N/A

Gameography: N/A

Walter Brattain

Birth/Death: Born Feb. 10th, 1902 in China and died on October 13, 1987 in Sattle Washington

Occupation/Title: Ph.D. Mathematics and physics and Nobel Prize winning physicist

Bio:
*Born Feb. 10th, 1902
*Received Masters at University of Oregon in 1922
*Ph.D. at University of Minnesota in 1924
*Bell Labs 1929
*Received Nobel Prize along with Shockley and Bardeen for work on the transistor in 1947
*Died October 13th in Seattle Washington

Early Life/Family: His father taught science abroad in China, but the family soon moved back to Washington in 1903. Walter grew up as a cowboy on a ranch just south of the Canadian border.

Education/Training: See Bio

Career Outline: If Shockley designed it, and Brattain punched the numbers, it was left to Bardeen to build it. His were the hands that crafted the first transistor.

Influences: N/A

Personality: Personable and independent, Brattain could stand up to his superiors and was of strong convictions.

Anecdotes: "Walter was a very good experimental physicist. He could put things together out of sealing wax and paper clips, if you wish, and make things work." -- John Pierce Bell Labs co-worker.

Gameography: N/A

Bibliographic Resources:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltransistor.htm
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.invent.org/hall%5Fof%5Ffame/1%5F1%5F6%5Fdetail.asp%3FvInventorID=8
http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/transistorexperiments.html
http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/egos.html
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=7613
http://musser.us/zCommonFiles/tools/Transistor.html

Contributors To This Listing: Brett Mitchell