Before William Shockley co-invented the transistor, won the Nobel Prize and wrecked his reputation with asinine ramblings about race, class and IQ, he was an incredibly brilliant but deeply troubled physicist at Bell Labs who was capable of revolutionizing modern life–if he didn’t first commit suicide via Russian roulette. Here’s a 1969 interview in Palo Alto with Shockley, when only those closest to him knew of his demons.