Traitorous eight

The traitorous eight, as they became known, are eight men who left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory to form Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957.[1][2] More neutral terms include the "Fairchild eight" and the "Shockley eight."[3] They have sometimes been called "Fairchildren," although this term has also been used to refer either to Fairchild alumni or to its spinoff companies.[4]

The eight are Julius Blank, Victor Grinich, Jean Hoerni, Eugene Kleiner, Jay Last, Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce and Sheldon Roberts.

Contents

History

According to authors Joseph Blasi, Douglas Kruse, and Aaron Bernstein, these eight men left because they did not agree with William Shockley's authoritarian managerial style and his practice of expecting a certain result instead of letting the research guide the process.[5] There is no record of Shockley ever using the term "traitorous eight," and his wife denied that he ever used it.[6]

The eight employees went to Arnold Beckman and asked him to replace Shockley. Beckman tried to find a new manager and left Shockley as a director with limited powers. As the search dragged on, it became apparent that Beckman could not find a replacement, so he restored Shockley's responsibilities. The eight men then resigned and signed a research contract with Fairchild Camera and Instrument to form Fairchild Semiconductor.

Their entrepreneurial desires did not end with Fairchild. Like many other Fairchild employees, seven of the eight went on to found various spinoff companies. These spinoffs and their founders are sometimes known as "Fairchildren". The most successful were Noyce and Moore, founders of Intel, and Kleiner, co-founder of the Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm. Additionally, Roberts, Hoerni and Last founded what later became Teledyne, while Blank co-founded Xicor. Grinich became a professor at UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

Fairchildren

The term "Fairchildren" refers to the seminal role that Fairchild Semiconductor played in spawning spin-off companies in Silicon Valley. It is a play on the words "Fairchild" and "children," the latter referring to the formation of (unofficial) spin-off companies from a parent company.

In research, reporting and popular lore related to Silicon Valley, the term "Fairchildren" has been variously used to refer to:

  1. The corporate spin-offs created by former employees of Fairchild Semiconductor. This is the usage of historian Leslie Berlin in her 2001 journal article,[7] in her 2001 doctoral dissertation,[8] and in her biography of Robert Noyce.[9]
  2. The founders of such firms. This is the earliest usage, e.g. Tom Wolfe's 1983 profile of Noyce[10] or a 5,000-word profile of Silicon Valley[11] in 1999.
  3. Former Fairchild Semiconductor employees, as in a 1988 New York Times article.[12]
  4. The original founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, more commonly known as the "traitorous eight". This has been used by a PBS website and a book on stock options.[13]

Note that there is an overlap among the last three categories, as some of the Fairchild eight (such as Noyce and Eugene Kleiner) left Fairchild to form other companies.

Honors

In May, 2011, the California Historical Society gave the “Legends of California Award” to the eight. Blank, Last, Moore, and Roberts' son Dave attended the event in San Francisco.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ Gerald W. Brock (2003). The second information revolution. Harvard University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780674011786. http://books.google.com/books?id=GbwuBixLwAoC&pg=PA88. 
  2. ^ McFarland, Grant (2006). Microprocessor Design. McGraw Hill. 
  3. ^ Fred Warshofsky (1989). The chip war: the battle for the world of tomorrow. Scribner. p. 27. ISBN 9780684189277. http://books.google.com/books?id=LJS1AAAAIAAJ&q=%22fairchild+eight%22+%22Shockley+eight%22&dq=%22fairchild+eight%22+%22Shockley+eight%22&hl=en&ei=d3XlTuq2FMO0iQLe75CYBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ. 
  4. ^ BBC Horizon (1978). "Now the Chips Are Down".
  5. ^ Blasi, Joseph; "Douglas Kruse and Aaron Bernstein" (2003). "1". In the Company of Owners: The Truth About Stock Options (And Why Every Employee Should Have Them). Basic Books. pp. 7. http://www.beysterinstitute.org/other_resources/bookstore/empown/Chapter1.pdf. 
  6. ^ Shurkin, Joel (2006). Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley. Macmillan. p. 181. 
  7. ^ Leslie R. Berlin, "Robert Noyce and the Rise and Fall of Fairchild Semiconductor, 1957–1968," Business History Review, 75, 1 (2001), 63-101
  8. ^ Leslie R. Berlin, "Entrepreneurship and the Rise of Silicon Valley: The Career of Robert Noyce, 1956-1990," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 2001
  9. ^ Leslie Berlin, The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005
  10. ^ Tom Wolfe, "The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce," Esquire, December 1983, pp. 346-374
  11. ^ Henry Norr, "Growth of a Silicon Empire," San Francisco Chronicle, December 27, 1999, p. D1
  12. ^ Andrew Pollack, "Fathers of Silicon Valley Reunited," New York Times,, April 16, 1988, p. 41.
  13. ^ Blasi, Joseph; Douglas Kruse, and Aaron Bernstein (2003). In the Company of Owners: The Truth About Stock Options (And Why Every Employee Should Have Them). Basic Books. pp. 6–7. http://books.google.com/books?id=tiZDKlanrFQC&pg=PA7. 
  14. ^ “Legends of California", California Historical Society 2011 announcement. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  15. ^ Poletti, Therese, "‘Traitorous Eight’ feted as California icons", MarketWatch, May 10, 2011 11:47 a.m. EDT. Retrieved 2011-05-10.

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