Editing William Shockley (section)

==Racist and eugenicist views==
{{See also|History of the race and intelligence controversy}}
After Shockley left his role as director of Shockley Semiconductor, he joined Stanford University, where he was appointed the [[Alexander M. Poniatoff]] Professor of Engineering and Applied Science in 1963, a position which he held until he retired as a professor emeritus in 1975.<ref>''Crystal Fire'' p. 277</ref>

In the last two decades of his life, Shockley, who had no degree in [[genetics]], became widely known for his extreme views on [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]] and [[human intelligence]], and his advocacy of [[eugenics]].<ref name="latimesobit" /><ref name=":6" /> As described by his ''Los Angeles Times'' obituary, "He went from being a physicist with impeccable academic credentials to amateur geneticist, becoming a lightning rod whose views sparked campus demonstrations and a cascade of calumny". He thought his work was important to the future of humanity and he also described it as the most important aspect of his career. He argued that a higher rate of reproduction among purportedly less intelligent people was having a [[dysgenics|dysgenic]] effect, and argued that a drop in average intelligence would lead to a decline in [[civilization]]. He also claimed that [[black people]] were genetically and intellectually inferior to [[white people]].<ref name="latimesobit" /> 

Shockley's biographer Joel Shurkin notes that for much of Shockley's life in the [[Racial segregation in the United States|racially segregated]] United States of the time, he had almost no contact with black people.{{Sfn|Shurkin|2006|p=52}} In a debate with psychiatrist [[Frances Cress Welsing]] and on ''[[Firing Line (TV series)|Firing Line]]'' with [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], Shockley argued, "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".<ref>{{cite web|title=Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Shockley's Thesis (Episode S0145, Recorded on June 10, 1974)|website = [[YouTube]]| date=January 27, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JOIqkh2ms8&t=3116| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/7JOIqkh2ms8| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live|access-date=17 September 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Shockley was one of the [[Scientific racism|race theorists]] who received money from the [[Pioneer Fund]], and at least one donation to him came from its founder, the eugenicist [[Wickliffe Draper]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Saini |first=Angela |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1091236746 |title=Superior : the return of race science |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-8070-7694-1 |location=Boston |oclc=1091236746}}</ref>{{Sfn|Shurkin|2006|p=221-223}} Shockley proposed that individuals with [[IQ]]s below 100 should be paid to undergo voluntary [[sterilization (medicine)|sterilization]], $1,000 for each of their IQ points under 100.<ref name="latimesobit">{{cite news |last1=Boyer |first1=Edward J. |date=August 14, 1989 |title=Controversial Nobel Laureate Shockley Dies |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-14-mn-369-story.html |access-date=May 11, 2015}}</ref> This proposal led to the [[University of Leeds]] to withdraw its offer of an honorary degree to him.<ref name="latimesobit" /> Anthropologist and far-right activist [[Roger Pearson (anthropologist)|Roger Pearson]] defended Shockley in a self-published book co-authored with Shockley.<ref>Pearson, Roger (1992). ''Shockley on Eugenics and Race'', pg.&nbsp;15–49. Scott-Townsend Publishers. {{ISBN|1-878465-03-1}}</ref> In 1973, [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]] professor Edgar G. Epps argued that "William Shockley's position lends itself to racist interpretations".<ref name=":12">{{cite journal |url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/simpleSearch.jsp;jsessionid=OMenSuducta6igZF3Xq3pQ__.ericsrv005?newSearch=true&eric_sortField=&searchtype=keyword&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ070419&eric_displayStartCount=1&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw |author=Epps, Edgar G |title=Racism, Science, and the I.Q. |journal=Integrated Education |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=35–44 |date=February 1973 |doi=10.1080/0020486730110105}}</ref> [[Southern Poverty Law Center|The Southern Poverty Law Center]] describes Shockley as a [[White nationalism|white nationalist]] who failed to produce evidence for his eugenic theories amidst "near-universal acknowledgement that his work was that of a racist crank".<ref name=":0" /> The science writer [[Angela Saini]] describes Shockley as having been "a notorious racist".<ref name=":2" />

Shockley insisted that he was not a [[Racism|racist]].<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Art |date=1984-09-12 |title=The Shockley Suit |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/09/12/the-shockley-suit/31817b93-4807-4a16-aa3d-edd773ff9e56/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> He wrote that his findings do not support [[white supremacy]], instead claiming that East Asians and Jews fare better than whites intellectually.<ref name=":12" /> In 1973, Edgar Epps wrote that "I am pleased that Professor Shockley is not an Aryan supremacist, but I would remind him that a theory espousing hereditary superiority of Orientals or Jews is just as racist in nature as the Aryan supremacy doctrine".<ref name=":12" />

Shockley's advocacy of eugenics triggered protests. In one incident, the science society [[Sigma Xi]], fearing violence, canceled a 1968 convocation in [[Brooklyn]] where Shockley was scheduled to speak.{{Sfn|Shurkin|2006|p=219-220}}

In Atlanta in 1981, Shockley filed a [[libel]] suit against the ''[[Atlanta Constitution]]'' after a science writer, [[Roger Witherspoon]], compared Shockley's advocacy of a voluntary sterilization program to [[Nazi human experimentation]]. The suit took three years to go to trial. Shockley won the suit but he only received [[Damages#Nominal damages|one dollar in damages]]<ref>{{cite news |first=Ronald |last=Kessler |title=Absent at the Creation; How one scientist made off with the biggest invention since the light bulb |url=http://www1.hollins.edu/faculty/richter/327/AbsentCreation.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224230527/http://www1.hollins.edu/faculty/richter/327/AbsentCreation.htm |archive-date=February 24, 2015 }}</ref> and he did not receive any [[punitive damages]]. Shockley's biographer Joel Shurkin, a science writer on the staff of Stanford University during those years, sums this statement up by saying that it was defamatory, but Shockley's reputation was not worth much by the time the trial reached a verdict.<ref name="Shurkin2006pp259–260" /> Shockley taped his [[telephone]] conversations with reporters, transcribed them, and sent the transcripts to the reporters by registered mail. At one point, he toyed with the idea of making the reporters take a simple quiz on his work before he would discuss the subject matter of it with them. His habit of saving all of his papers (including laundry lists) provides abundant documentation on his life for researchers.<ref name="Shurkin2006p286" />

Shockley was a candidate for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nomination in the [[1982 United States Senate election in California]]. He ran on a [[Single-issue politics|single-issue platform]] of opposing the "dysgenic threat" that he alleged [[African Americans|African-Americans]] and other groups posed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moll |first=John L. |date=1995 |title=William Bradford Shockley 1910—1989 |url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/shockley-w.pdf |website=National Academy of Sciences}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=William Shockley |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-shockley |website=Southern Poverty Law Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/12/us/shockley-nobel-winner-files-for-senate-race-in-california.html|title = Shockley, Nobel Winner, Files for Senate Race in California|newspaper = The New York Times|date = February 12, 1982}}</ref> He came in eighth place in the primary, receiving 8,308 votes and 0.37% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web |title= CA US Senate – D Primary|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=382924|website=OurCampaigns |access-date=November 12, 2019}}</ref> According to Shurkin, by this time, "His racism destroyed his credibility. Almost no one wanted to be associated with him, and many of those who were willing did him more harm than good".{{Sfn|Shurkin|2006|p=268}}

===Foundation for Research and Education on Eugenics and Dysgenics===
'''Foundation for Research and Education on Eugenics and Dysgenics''' '''(FREED)''' was a [[Nonprofit organization|non-profit organization]] founded in March 1970 in the United States formed to support the research of Shockley, who was the president of the foundation and [[R. Travis Osborne]], a member.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1985-03-28 |title=The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/419333630/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shurkin |first=Joel N. |date=2008 |title=Broken Genius |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-230-55229-6 |journal=SpringerLink |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-0-230-55229-6|isbn=978-0-230-55192-3 }}</ref><ref name="Tucker 1994">{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=William H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OBsHSzmkYHkC |title=The Science and Politics of Racial Research |date=1994 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06560-6 |language=en}}</ref> The foundation released newsletter 'FREED' and research papers at [[Stanford University]].

The organization was founded according to its mission "solely for scientific and educational purposes related to human population and quality problems".<ref name="Tucker 1994" />

From 1969 to 1976, the [[Pioneer Fund]] allocated about $2.5 million ([[adjusted-for-inflation]] in 2023) to support Shockley's endeavors. This funding was distributed through grants to [[Stanford University]] for the exploration of "research into the factors which affect genetic potential" and also directly to FREED.<ref name="fighting-hate/extremist">{{Cite web |title=William Shockley |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-shockley |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lichtenstein |first=Grace |date=11 Dec 1977 |title=Fund Backs Controversial Study of 'Racial Betterment' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/11/archives/fund-backs-controversial-study-of-racial-betterment-some-others-who.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Via FREED, Shockley promoted his concept of a "Voluntary Sterilization Bonus Plan", proposing to compensate [[economically disadvantaged]] women for undergoing [[Sterilization (medicine)|sterilization]] procedures.<ref name="fighting-hate/extremist" />

In 1970, Shockley listed former [[List of United States senators from Alaska|senator of Alaska]] [[Ernest Gruening]] as a director of FREED.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1970-04-29 |title=The Delta Democrat-Times from Greenville, Mississippi |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24196312/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref>