George Smoot Horsley

George Smoot Horsley (1916 – 1992) was a physicist and pioneer in printed circuitry and semiconductors. He was one of the first four recruits by William Shockley to help develop technologies at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory.

Early life Horsley was born in 1916 in Brigham City, Utah to Mormon parents Golden and Mary Horsley. He served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II, originally commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1942 and assigned to field artillery. He attained the rank of First Lieutenant and earned his Aviator Badge to become a pilot in October 1943. He had served as a missionary and in 1945 was named an acting Chaplain aboard a ship bound for North Africa. He served in Africa and Italy.

After his military service had ended, he enrolled at the University of Utah, where his grades were sufficient to admit him into Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his PhD in physics from University of Utah in 1954.

Career During the winter of 1954–1955, William Shockley decided to seek a sponsor to help him establish production of complex transistors and his own Shockley diodes. He was initially supported by Raytheon, but the agreement was soon canceled by that company. After Shockley subsequently established Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory under the umbrella of Beckman Instruments, he recruited four men: William W. Happ who he knew from Raytheon, Horsley and Leopoldo B. Valdes both of whom he knew from Bell Labs, and Richard Victor Jones, a new Berkeley graduate.