Media Life:Auburn park’s Nobel Prize-winning donor has dark side
Ainsleigh defends naming park after eugenics proponent
No doubt about it. William Shockley was one of the smartest humans on the planet. He was the co-winner of a Nobel Prize in 1956 for his groundbreaking work on transistors and Time magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was also a racist who thought whites were intellectually superior to blacks and, because of his standing in the scientific community, became the go-to genius for white supremacists and Nazis to point toward when looking for some supportive comments from the academic world. By what seems to be a quirk of circumstance, his estate included 28 acres of undeveloped land in Auburn and after his widow died in 2007, it was offered to the Auburn Recreation District as a passive park site. The bequest was approved last week by the board, without any discussion on its donor’s racism. This past week, Journal News Editor Michelle Miller-Carl wrote a story about the parks district’s acceptance of the forested land off Auburn Ravine Road and did a Wiki search on the Web to find out more about the famous benefactor. Some disturbing facts about Shockley emerged to go with the story of his landmark scientific discovery.
“NASTY OLD MAN” As Joel Shurkin, author of the 1996 Shockley biography would say, the Nobel laureate and so-called father of Silicon Valley was one “nasty old man.” Shurkin’s biography about Shockley is called “Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age.” No one doubted that Shockley was always the smartest person in the room. Even his enemies said he was one of the smartest people they’d ever met, Shurkin would say. His list of enemies was a long one, including the two scientists who shared the Nobel with him. Shockley’s name isn’t on the Bell Labs patent for that first transistor because he lightly oversaw the actual work. He did go on to develop a different, more effective transistor that became the foundation for the electronic age. His biographers agree that by the time the Nobel was awarded, he was estranged from the co-creators. Several sources have detailed how Shockley tried to cash in on his genius with electronics by starting his own lab. He was good at hiring people but quickly lost those best and brightest minds as they dealt with his jealousy and paranoia, writers like Shurkin have documented. Two of his employees went on to help found Intel while Shockley’s enterprise floundered.
EUGENICS PROPONENT Shockley began to publicly embrace the theory of eugenics in the 1960s and became one of its most prominent proponents. Technically speaking, eugenics is the name of a movement devoted to improving the human species through the control of hereditary factors in mating. Some of Shockley’s proposals were shockingly discriminatory. It was recorded that he didn’t dislike blacks and didn’t advocate discriminating against them, but advocated stopping compensatory programs for educating African Americans because of what he believed was their genetic inferiority. That was wrong on many levels and he suffered for that. And he suffered for suggesting that people with an IQ below 100 be compensated if they underwent voluntary sterilization. Shockley has never been described as anti-Semitic but his attempts to steer debate into the mainstream forum of ideas destroyed his reputation. Then, as now, discussion cannot get past the fact that Nazi Germany used eugenics to justify the Holocaust. Shockley died in 1989, despised by even his own family. His children were estranged and read about his death in newspaper obituaries, his biographer said. His wife, Emmy, lived until 2007. Where does the Auburn park fit into this odd tale of genius?
BEQUEST REQUIREMENT Well, it comes down to a requirement of the bequest. To receive the 28 acres, the recreation district board had to agree to name the park “Nobel Laureate William B. Shockley and his wife Emmy Shockley Memorial Park.” The board debated the cost of upkeep before voting 3-2 in favor of accepting the gift, plus $50,000 to help maintain the land. But Shockley’s casual bigotry and racism were never addressed. Kahl Muscott, district administrator, only learned about Shockley’s racism and ties to eugenics when Media Life presented him with the facts. Director Scott Holbrook opposed the park bequest but said he had no knowledge of Shockley’s dark side. Director Gordy Ainsleigh, who favored the bequest, said he was probably the only board member who knew about Shockley’s eugenics views. But he decided not to mention them to the others. Almost everyone has some dirty laundry in their closets and in the case of Shockley, “I think we should let it go,” Ainsleigh said. Media Life gave Ainsleigh an opportunity to respond to criticism that naming the park after Shockley would be a serious mistake.
AINSLEIGH COMMENTS Here are his unedited comments. You can judge for yourself: “Regarding Dr. Shockley's views on genetics: It is a solid scientific fact that the genetics of all life forms, from bacteria to humans, are formed by the environment in which our ancestors existed and survived. “For instance, in Norway, where many of my genes come from, you see a remarkable ability to produce an organized and orderly home, community and society, because people who wouldn't or couldn't function cooperatively simply were weeded out of the gene pool by the severe winters. Italy, on the other hand, has a much kinder climate that didn't weed out those who were less organized and acted spontaneously on emotion. Italy's government doesn't work nearly as well as Norway's does, but Norway didn't produce Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, either. “So Shockley's view that blacks from equatorial Africa have different genetic abilities than whites from northern Europe is unquestionably correct. Where I disagree with Shockley is in his narrow definition of intelligence. Is the proof of intelligence a government that functions intelligently, or the presence of geniuses like Michelangelo and Leonardo?” Ainsleigh wrote.
“DIFFERENT TIMES” “It's also important to judge people by the context of their times and society. Shockley died of old age twenty years ago. He grew up and spent his most productive years in a world where blacks were not allowed to fight beside whites in the military, sit at the same table, or use the same toilet. And all the commanding officers were white. Shockley was a product of his society, and perhaps didn't evolve as fast as his society evolved - a very common human trait. “Still, he is a Nobel Laureate, and I trust the Nobel committee enough to believe he deserved that prize just as much as Linus Pauling, Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck. With all Shockley's awkward realities, Auburn is honored to have been the home of the family that produced a Nobel Laureate. “Colfax has managed okay after being named after one of the most notorious scoundrels in American political history. I'm sure we will do fine with a park named after a Nobel Laureate who was ahead of his time in electronics and behind his time in sociology.” Media Life’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.
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This sounds like the controversy over Goethe park in Sacramento.
Tell you what. The best thing to do with that situation is to make sure that as many people who are biracial as possible just go and USE the park.
Therefore, if there's an afterlife, he's flipping in his grave.
Sounds like the site needs a few ceremonial cleansings. Start with the locals, contact the monks....
Second thing, you know how the existing signage in downtown Auburn directlng one around the various points of interest is way too small to actually READ unless you already live here, know the sign is there, and know what the sign says?
It is time for another round of creative signage.
This is how big the sign for the park should be:
_______________________________________________________________________
| “Nobel Laureate William B. Shockley and his wife Emmy Shockley Memorial Park.” |
|_______________________________________________________________________|
I would suggest you post it somewhere on the acreage, to meet the technical requirements, mark the thing with a GPS for those doing orienteering caching (why not screw it down into a big piece of granite) and then put the other sign up with the normal Auburn sized lettering.
AUBURN NOBEL PARK
Dedicated in 2009 , The First Year an African American Served As President
Yes, Shockley was a brilliant, crackpot, cranky old racist whose only redeeming feature was he did work on electronics. What a delicious irony anybody is going to be able to use this park.
As for Ainsleigh, he's been footing his mouth in his hoof via his innertubals for so long, he cannot surprise one anymore. Incoming. Duck and cover.
PS. If Shockley was as "superior" as he thought he was, he wouldn't have aggravated his biological offspring to the point where they read about his passing in an obituary.
I would insert a Swede vs. Dane vs. Norwegian joke here but the thread is going to go south anyway. Remember, if Scandinavia was so perfect and they were so brilliant, they wouldn't have left and run over Iceland, Greenland, Canada and North Dakota trying to find a place to grow GRAPES.
To attempt to justify and rationalize the views of Mr. Shockley on eugenics and racism is wrong. He was chastized by his views back then as they should be now. For an elected official to hide this kind of information from his fellow board members and community also says a lot about methods and motives. This is a legitimate concern that while may not have changed the outcome of the vote to accept the donation and responsibilites attached to this property, it is worthy of discussion. I am interested to hear constructive comments on how to address the naming issue, as well as opinions on the how and why this information did not come to light earlier. I do worry on where this discussion may lead. By the way Mr. Ainsleigh says Auburn is the home of the Shockley Family - Did William and Emma ever live in Auburn?
mfgcontroversy, in what way are his beliefs any different than Malcom X's. Both are wrong, bot are/ were racists. Two wrongs do not make a right and what the heck, if the land is free and it benefits people of all races, take it. Can't turn the clock back, Shockley presently has no idea that this controversy is going on, he's dead. Take the park, put the inscription as indicated on the "gift" and then plant a tree somewhere in the park and put a plaque dedicating the tree and the park to the unification of the races.
Look out the windshield, not the rear view mirror. People change with the world and what was acceptable back is not acceptable now, feel good about the fact that we are growing up and learning to live in harmony. Just look, a "negro" just got elected President of the United States of America. Now there are a lot of people that would have never dreamed of that happening.
Move ahead, learn from the past but don't dwell on it, it is not healthy and keeps wounds open.
I find it disturbing that the AJ would make an issue of naming a park after Shockley, yet, along with ARD, would not address the numerous complaints by others regarding the Ashley Memorial dog park that honored a young girl who apparently had drug issues and contributed nothing to the community. The AJ never once printed anything about Ashley's "past" or how she died. Why are you doing this AJ? As Ainsleigh said, Shockley was a product of his time, but he made contributions to our society and our community. So what if he was "nasty old man". We have aquired a nice piece of land that the ARD may some day be able to improve.
I agree with Loomis. I have to add, however, that I don’t think the Auburn Journal printed this article to denigrate Shockley as much as it was a round about way of attacking Ainsleigh. The Auburn Journal as we all know is a very liberal paper. This was a sneaky way of going after Ainsleigh. What a waste of newspaper space. It must be a slow news day. It wasn’t Mr. Shockley who donated the land; it was Mrs. Shockley. We are not in a position to say “no” to free land, and the fact is Mr. Shockley was a scientific genius. We still honor Thomas Jefferson. He owned slaves. Like Loomis said; lets’ look forward, not backwards.
That was a constructive idea of how to address the naming issue. Technically name the park after the donors but give it a common, shorter name, make sure the shorter, common name is given more prominence and use, and make sure the sign with the full moniker is about I cm tall by 5 cm long.
As for Ainsleigh supposedly "hiding" the fact that Shockley was a jerk- LEARN HISTORY, you dim bulbs. I laughed my butt off as soon as I heard that they were considering taking a donation from the estate, precisely because as public property this was going to be of potential benefit and used by everyone. Good can come from this situation.
This reminds me of a visit with my grandparents in Arkansas back in the '80's. We had finished dinner and the dishes and sat down to watch some TV. I asked if we could watch The Cosby Show. Very matter of factly, my grandmother said "we don't watch colored TV".
So AJ the point of the article was? Somehow I got lost along the way of your spin.....
Get over it. It was a generous donation and wonderful addition to our numerous natural areas and parks. The best way to get back at him, if you have a mind to, is to go and enjoy it for what it is - a beautiful parcel of land in our town for everyone's use.
Everybody has an opinion, don't mean it's right.
Just sayin...
Anaylist, for the record the Journal did an editorial, albeit a misguided one, regarding the naming of the Ashley Memorial Dog Park. Your misguided & un substantiated attacks of a young girl in no way should be equated with the well documented racism of Mr. Shockley. The opinion piece in the Journal only printed Mr. Ainsleighs words verbatem, blame only Mr. Ainsleigh if his comments make him look bad, not the Journal. While I can find a lot to criticize the Journal about, this piece is not one of them. The point of the article is that the property was accepted without any discussion of the ugly past of Mr. Shockley, and part of that acceptance requires the ARD to name the park after Mr. Shockley. And like the ex Goethe park in Sacramento, naming of the park could be an issue
really? this is what people are worried about. everyone has their beliefs. let it go.
mfgcontroversy, first of all, I am in no way making attacks on a young girl, so please don't make those accusations. The allegations were not unsubstantiated, they were corroborated by reliable scources from what I have read, but let's not go down that road. I am criticizing the AJ for it's unbalanced reporting, and the ARD for being inconsistent when it comes to standing up on moral issues. It was Mr. Shockley's land, he gave it to us, it should have a memorial in his name.
I agree with the comments about Shockley -- but don't try to bolster them by placing him among goons like Linus Pauling. Pauling was a miserable old @&*%&# who faked the authenticity of journal articles, fired people from his Institute who showed that far from curing cancer, vitamin C CAUSED cancer and destroyed the career of the young British scientist Dorothy Wrinch. It's all in the book LINUS PAULING: A MAN AND HIS SCIENCE by Anthony Serafini
Anayst how in the world is the ARD inconsistent on moral issues?
We were given land with NO expectations to name after the giver.... I agree we name it after someone who has done something spectacular, or continues to do spectacular things for our town, State or Country. Just like our quarter, I believe we should vote on it. Shockley had a right to believe in what he wanted, and to be a big jerk if that is what he wanted. That is a moot point. Shockley Lane has been around forever, when I use it - I never get the urge to become a bigot. Still, do we need to change that? How about Columbus Day. He killed a lot of Native Americans, yet he gets a parade. We do not live in a perfect WORLD. But we can always try to be good every day... so lets try and name it right and perhaps we just need to stop naming parks and streets after individuals, and stick to inanimate objects. Like Gold Pan Park. Etc. But I am sure somewhere out there the Gold Pan has some horrible connotation attached to it for somebody!!! We will NEVER please every one- thats a given. Still, I wouldn't mind it being called something that would make the old man cringe. Once it is OUR land, it will not be HIS land anymore. So it should no longer be a concern.