Frederick Terman

In The Idea Factory, Frederick Terman is the Stanford provost who served as a “booster” for William Shockley and helped draw him to Palo Alto. With little technology yet out in the Valley — “mostly apricot orchards and undeveloped land” — Terman told Shockley to come and offered to help him find an office in a new industrial park for young, innovative companies. The book notes that Terman is often credited as the father of Silicon Valley (drawing a contrast with Shockley, sometimes called its “Moses,” whose failures kept him from the Valley’s “promised land of wealth and influence”).

Context: Frederick Terman (1900–1982) was an American engineer and Stanford University provost whose mentorship of students and recruitment of technology companies to the area around Stanford earned him a lasting reputation as a father of Silicon Valley.

Where this appears

• The Idea Factory — the Stanford provost who recruited William Shockley to Palo Alto and is credited as the father of Silicon Valley