If you’re familiar with the history of computing, you’ve probably heard the name William Shockley. Shockley was a brilliant man and helped make computing today possible, as shown with the Nobel prize for Physics that he won in 1956 for “research on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect“.
He was also a horrible human being. Among other things, he said:
“My research leads me inescapably to the opinion that the major cause of the American Negro’s intellectual and social deficits is hereditary and racially genetic in origin and, thus, not remediable to a major degree by practical improvements in the environment”
As a result of his behavior (detailed well on his Wikipedia page), he had a difficult time keeping talented people at his company and you can trace many of the largest companies in Silicon Valley back to employees that left his firm.
An article in the BBC from a few years ago offers a solid summary:
Only time will tell how Shockley is remembered by the annals of history: as a visionary, hero, Nobel Prize winner, and Silicon Valley pioneer – or as a fanatical racist who died a lonely man.
To me, this sounds a lot like Elon Musk. The man is brilliant, and has brought amazing scientific contributions to the world, but he’s also struggling to retain his reputation, keep his staff, and keep his companies running smoothly. I think it’s very possible that in 20 years we can look back at some of the great new companies that have sprung up and link many of them back to staff that used to work at Tesla or SpaceX.
Like Elon Musk, not everyone hated Shockley. He put himself on the ticket for Senator in 1982 and while he didn’t do well, he picked up a few thousand votes in the primary.
Elon will continue to have his supporters, but I suspect history will show more similarities to Shockley than most would like to see.
