The four-layer diode was the key to William Shockley's plan to revolutionize AT&T's phone system. It was a great device in theory, but not in practice -- at least not at the time when Shockley ...

For nearly eight decades, the so-called Shockley diode equation has explained how current flows through solar cells; the electrical current that powers up your home or charges the battery bank.

With William Shockley's difficult managerial style, working at Shockley Semiconductor became increasingly difficult for the researchers there. In May of 1957, just over a year after the company ...