The Politics of Intelligence · Episode 3 of 9 · 37 min
The Nobel Physicist Who Became the Face of Race Science: William Shockley
William Shockley co-invented the transistor and won a Nobel Prize in physics, then with no training in genetics became the most notorious public voice for the claim that Black Americans were genetically less intelligent. The episode follows his campus debates, his sterilization bonus proposal, his Pioneer Fund backing and a libel suit that ended with a one-dollar verdict.
Who's who
- William Shockley+3 more episodesNobel physicist turned public advocate of racial IQ claims
- Ashley MontaguAnthropologist who debated Shockley at Princeton in 1973
- Roy InnisCORE national director who withdrew from a planned debate
- Arthur Jensen+7 more episodesBerkeley psychologist whose data Shockley relied on
- Wickliffe Draper+1 more episodeTextile heir who founded the Pioneer Fund
- Roger WitherspoonAtlanta Constitution writer whose article led to the libel suit
Where it happens
- Stanford University, California+8 more episodesShockley's academic home as a professor
- Princeton University, New JerseySite of the December 1973 Shockley-Montagu debate
- Bell Laboratories, New JerseyWhere the transistor work was done
- Mountain View, CaliforniaLocation of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
- Atlanta, Georgia+10 more episodesSite of the 1984 libel trial
Timeline
- 1956Shares the Nobel Prize in Physics for the transistor
- 1969-1976Pioneer Fund channels about $1.5 million to his work
- December 4, 1973Princeton debate with Montagu draws protesters
- 1980Atlanta Constitution article compares his sterilization plan to Nazi experiments
- September 1984Libel jury finds article defamatory but awards one dollar
- 1989Shockley dies; 2022 Science article calls him a racist and eugenicist
Still debated
Scholars still argue whether public debates with Shockley helped answer him or gave him legitimacy. The degree of Jensen's responsibility, the Pioneer Fund's role in creating an appearance of consensus, and the meaning of the one-dollar verdict also remain open.
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