Shockley on TV.

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Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 10, 2013 - 04:13pm PT
I guess I don't know my history well enough.

I've only associated Shockley with climbing at the Gunks, but I'm currently watching American Experience, Silicon Valley, on PBS, and Shockley is discussed at length.

Gotta love scientific history tying in with climbing history.

Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Feb 10, 2013 - 04:20pm PT
His legacy was tainted by his outspoken views on race and reproduction

From wikikpedia

Late in his life, Shockley became intensely interested in questions of race, intelligence, and eugenics. He thought this work was important to the genetic future of the human species, and came to describe it as the most important work of his career, even though expressing such politically unpopular views risked damaging his reputation. When asked why he seemed to take positions associated with both the political right and left, Shockley explained that his goal was "the application of scientific ingenuity to the solution of human problems."[26]
Shockley argued that the higher rate of reproduction among the less intelligent was having a dysgenic effect, and that a drop in average intelligence would ultimately lead to a decline in civilization.[27] Shockley advocated that the scientific community should seriously investigate questions of heredity, intelligence, and demographic trends, and suggest policy changes if he was proven right.[28]
Although Shockley was concerned about dysgenic effects among both blacks and whites, he perceived the situation among blacks as more problematic. According to 1970 US Census, unskilled and skilled whites had on average 3.7 and 2.3 children, respectively, whereas the corresponding numbers for blacks were 5.4 and 1.9.[29] Shockley expressed concern that the black population would become progressively less intelligent, countering all the gains that had been made by the Civil Rights movement. Shockley's views on this topic, expressed in his publications and lectures, were based in part on the work of Cyril Burt. Shockley also proposed that individuals with IQs below 100 be paid to undergo voluntary sterilization.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 10, 2013 - 04:22pm PT
I'm learning all sorts of things today.
Lynne Leichtfuss

Sport climber
moving thru
Feb 10, 2013 - 04:58pm PT
Shockley's first name, please. lynne
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 10, 2013 - 05:05pm PT
William, or Bill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley
Bullwinkle

Boulder climber
Feb 10, 2013 - 05:41pm PT
His Son Dick Shockley was a StoneMaster and a Physicist, excellent Climber and wild at heart. . .df
Lynne Leichtfuss

Sport climber
moving thru
Feb 10, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
Thank you. I know Dick from Tioga Pass last several seasons and Wayyyyy back in JTree.

Love talking with him. Think he inherited his Poppa's brain.

Edit: Last summer Dick had found an excellent athlete, much younger, not a climber and was teaching him how to climb. The stories Dick told each evening when they got back from whatever area they had been climbing were hilarious. :D
Truthdweller

Trad climber
San Diego, CA
Feb 10, 2013 - 08:14pm PT
Dick Shockley can be a fixture out at Santee Boulders in Santee, CA (he comes and goes), and will talk openly, yet briefly, about his father, if asked. At sixty (something) you'll find Dick still hitting on his favorite reefer and willing to share it with whomever is willing. He has a lot of the problems heinously wired yet stays fairly close to the ground these days, for obvious reasons. One of the problems bares his name, Shockleys Lunge, 5.11b, which lies fittingly next to Epperson's Lunge, at a stiff 5.12. Both of these sport a 20' topout. Dick literally dances up the rock and it is still a treat to run into, just look for a white fishermans hat and you'll have surely found him!




[Click to View YouTube Video]
Lynne Leichtfuss

Sport climber
moving thru
Feb 10, 2013 - 08:34pm PT


Cheers to some fun times. Hope to see you all again this summer. lynnie
Truthdweller

Trad climber
San Diego, CA
Feb 10, 2013 - 08:50pm PT
There's the white hat!
TREED

Trad climber
Gunks
Feb 10, 2013 - 09:28pm PT
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Feb 10, 2013 - 09:35pm PT
Yeah....and the upper half are in a posistion to do (fairly often at that) really stupid things that get a lot of people in trouble. Lets rethink that voluntary sterilization idea.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Feb 12, 2013 - 10:13am PT
Shockley bump.....

When ever I hear some blowhard talking about how SMOKERS are stupid ....
who can't think or reason.

I think of Dick and Calteck and the times when I would pick him up and we would go climbing...

Bonging all the way to Josh...

Dick had these flash cards made up with questions on one side - the answers on the other. Some pretty complicated physics stuff cause he was doing his PHD work.

I didn't understand the questions, but I would read em off. He always got the right answer...

Fun times for sure...

Very happy to know he is still getting after it.
can't say

Social climber
Pasadena CA
Feb 12, 2013 - 10:57am PT
Dick is such a nice guy. I don't think I can ever remember him joining in the common mass slander/lie fests that would erupt.

One thing that has always stuck with me were his many iterations and variations of what I call Shockleyism's. His "No Mistake or Big Pancake, Boogie or Bivy, Summit or Plummit, Finger Locks or Cedar Box" was heard as often as the aping of Largo and his "Hooo Man".
TGT

Social climber
So Cal
Feb 12, 2013 - 11:21am PT
What year did Dick start climbing in Jtree and did Bill ever climb there?

I think in the early 70's the guy that got me into climbing, (a Harvey Mudd math major) may have had father and son confused.
Alan Rubin

climber
Amherst,MA.
Feb 12, 2013 - 11:27am PT
I doubt that Bill climbed much, if at all, in JTree, I believe that he pretty much stopped climbing in the mid-50s.
Lynne Leichtfuss

Sport climber
moving thru
Feb 12, 2013 - 06:27pm PT
Can't say, wished I would have written down Dick's Shockleyisms the last two summers....I will for sure this summer if he's able to get back up to TPR area.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2013 - 06:30pm PT
I know some of you know his son, but I'm more curious about Bill, his scientific work, and his climbing.
mooser

Trad climber
seattle
Feb 12, 2013 - 09:17pm PT
I actually had no idea that William Shockley was the namesake for the Gunks climb. I remember Dick Shockley as a highly energetic, fun, and talented climber when I frequented Woodson in the 70s, and I knew a bit of his father's history (in that my dad was an electrical engineer, and I grew up soldering transistors all over creation...).

Brandon, there's some interesting stuff on Wikipedia on W. Shockley, but it'd sure be interesting to hear something from someone who knew about him as a climber.
dee ee

Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
Feb 12, 2013 - 10:43pm PT
BITD Dick was one of the best mantle-ers of all time... right up there with Sean Curtis. He was a great climber and boulderer.

He and I went 1/2 way up El Cap one time, unfortunately I was sick and our failure was due to my weakness. I should have not even gone to Yosemite but couldn't give in, till it was too late.

Somewhere in my archives I have a copy of the "Suicide Blues," written, played on guitar and sung by Dick. Classic.
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