William Bradford Shockley was an American physicist. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956, announced November 1, 1956. William B. Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter H. Brattain, “for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect”. William B. Shockley: born 1910, London, United Kingdom. John Bardeen: born 1908, Madison, WI, USA. Walter H. Brattain: born 1902, Amoy, China. Wiki link Wiki link Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).