performing ?rms were curtailed following the stock market decline and the subsequent economic slowdown of 2001 and 2002. The Federal Government was once the main source of the nation’s R&D funds, funding as much as 66. 7 percent of all U. S. R&D in 1964. The Federal share ?rst fell below 50 percent in 1979, and after 1987 it fell steadily, dr- ping from 46. 3 percent in that year to 25. 1 percent in 2000 (the lowest it has ever been since 1953). Adjusting for in?ation, Federal support decreased 18 percent from 1987 to 2000, although in nominal terms, Federal support grew from $58. 5 billion to $66. 4 billion during that period. Growth in industrial funding generally outpaced growth in Federal support, leading to the decline in Federal support as a proportion of the total. Fig. 2. Doctorates awarded in Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics: 1995–2002 [Source: National Science Foundation NSF 04–303 (October 2003)] Figure 1 explains the most signi?cant change in the industry which occurred in the early sixties. The industry, with pressure from Wall Street, could not ?nance long-range and risky basic research. The objective of basic research is to gain more comprehensive knowledge or understanding of the subject under study without speci?c applications in mind. Basic research advances scienti?c knowledge but does not have speci?c immediate commercial objectives. Basic research can fail and often will not bring results in a short period of time.

This book takes a fresh look at the work, thoughts, and life of 1956 Nobel Prize winner William B. Shockley. It reconstructs Shockley’s upbringing, his patriotic achievements during World War II, his contribution to semiconductor physics – culminating with the epoch-making invention of the transistor – and his views on the social issues of his time. The author’s unparalleled access to Shockley’s personal documents provides insight into a colorful, yet controversial, man, and also sheds light on the attitudes of other prominent scientists of that era. Shockley was not only an outstanding scientist in his own right but also a fiercely independent thinker in perpetual search of the truth. His contributions to the field known today as microelectronics are enormous and unmatched. This book explores the critical facets of Shockley’s life, replete with never-before-published photos and excerpts from his private correspondence and personal notebooks. The book also delves into Shockley’s views on genetics and human intelligence. It tells the story of a man beset by an unrelenting rationality, slandered by the popular media, and ultimately alienated by his peers. It discusses his controversial, although sometimes prescient, ideas regarding human genetics, putting these into the context of modern research findings. Today, William Shockley is perhaps just as enigmatic as his work and accomplishments. The author presents a convincing argument that Shockley still has much to say about the issues of our age, and many of his ideas deserve evaluation in the public forum.