January 2016 Auction Ends Thursday, January 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/28/2016
An unpublished and previously unknown 285 page scientific journal completely handwritten by the Nobel Prize winner William Shockley over the course of a decade. Dated 9 January 1945 to 5 April 1956, this handwritten diary includes information on several projects Shockley undertook at the time he was developing the solid-state transistor. Specifically, notes on aeronautics concern the development of the delta and sweep-wing aircraft with specific notes concerning the Bell X-5 and the F-86. Shockley's notes are comprehensive and include copious calculations, detailed diagrams, wind-tunnel testing schedules, as well as a very lengthy bibliography chronicling the latest professional literature on the subject. The notes are highly-organized and offer a testament to the intellectual discipline of one of the most important inventors of the twentieth century.
Content of some of Shockley's original ideas in the notebook include: "Jan 9, 1946 Look into the possibility of providing a force reduction on central surface by using manifold pressure on engine" and "Idea for welding gasoline tanks without washing out thoroughly with water".
He gives a detailed schedule of new and ongoing experiments such as, "Finish Tests on AR 3 upswept model Oct 14, 1946…2-Dimen about Nov. 14th _ in tunnel…" There are also detailed diagrams regarding thermal and mechanical energy, along with notes on "Electromagnetic Analogy…A perfect analogy exists between the strength of the magnetic field around conductors and the strength of the induced velocity field around columnar (finite-diameter) vortices…"
Also included is a fascinating handwritten draft memorandum dated 5 July 1950 detailing the recommendation of the aerodynamics "Stability and Control Subcommittee", stemming from meetings that took place on June 21 and 22nd of that year. The memo details swept wing characteristics at high altitude, including stall warning, buffet boundary, stick force percentage at high Mach speed, etc. The memo goes on to cover such topics as control hinge moments at supersonic range, spoiler controls, power effects, missiles and so on.
Shockley's involvement with aircraft began during the Second World War. Already working for Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he would help develop the transistor, he became involved in research on radar and in May 1942, took a leave of absence to become research director at Columbia University's anti-submarine Warfare Operations Group. In 1944, Shockley began a program to train B-29 bomber crews to use radar bomb sights, which segued seamlessly into work on some of the novel wing designs that proliferated at the end of the Second War War.
Pages measure 6" x 8.5", housed in a green-cloth loose-leaf notebook measuring 9" x 7". Entries are all handwritten, mostly in pencil. Lot includes several candid photographs of Shockley, both alone and with family members, as well as a pair of electrical schematics drawn on a 8.5" by 11" sheet which is annotated and printed on the front and includes a heading "TRANSISTORIZED REGULATOR". Light toning to pages, some of which are disbound (the resultant tears at left margins), overall in very good condition. This scarce diary is the only substantive autographed material by Shockley to come to auction in the last 40 years. Almost all of Shockley's scientific notes are now in institutional holdings (Stanford University), and material in his hand of this caliber is very rare.
Scientific Diary by William Shockley, the Nobel-Prize Winning Physicist & Inventor, Called the Father of Silicon Valley -- Manuscript Diary With Notes on Aeronautics & Ideas for Inventions
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