William Bradford Shockley Jr. Born 13 February 1910(1910-02-13) London, England, United Kingdom Died 12 August 1989(1989-08-12) (aged 79) Stanford, California, United States Nationality American Institutions Bell Labs Shockley Semiconductor Stanford Alma mater Caltech MIT Doctoral advisor John C. Slater Known for Coinventor of the transistor Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physics (1956) Comstock Prize in Physics (1953) William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. Along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, Shockley co-invented the transistor, for which all three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics..