Before we toss William Shockley on the dung-hill of opprobrium (Your Views, April 28, and before), we should review again his real achievements.

In World War II he redesigned Atlantic convoy protection strategy to raise the level of doom for U-boats and save merchant shipping and countless sailors. His analysis of the Japanese Homeland Defense plan and mindset played a major role in the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki; terrible choices that certainly saved tens of thousands of American lives.

He was part of the team that invented the first transistor and personally developed the junction transistor that is the foundation of the microelectronic revolution.

And he was indeed a nasty man. Saddled with the emotional capacity of a 6-year-old by the genes and upbringing of his parents, he alienated every person he met; family, friends, co-workers; even his crack team of electronics experts quit en masse to found Fairchild, Intel and to start the Silicon Valley gold rush.

Despite his creepy views, it is not clear that any person actually suffered the loss of human rights as a result of Shockley’s thinking. But I am certain that every single reader of this paper has benefited in their lives and health from the offspring of his inventions.

So, what’s the balance? Should such a giant be denied any recognition as a result of human failure? I would propose that the words “flawed genius” appear on his plaque and be done with it.

John Sisson

Newcastle