In February 1956, William Bradford Shockley, inventor of the junction transistor and Nobel Prize winner, joined Arnold Beckman, founder and CEO of Beckman Instruments, to formally announce the establishment of the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Mountain View, Calif.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Shockley Labs, a commemorative display was unveiled by Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, and Nick Galiotto, the Mayor of the City of Mountain View.

The display panel, located in the original Shockley Labs building at 391 San Antonio Road, Mountain View — now a produce market — celebrates the technical achievements of the scientists and engineers who worked in the building during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In September 1957, a group of eight Shockley employees, led by Robert Noyce and later referred to as the "traitorous eight," resigned from Shockley Labs to form Fairchild Semiconductor. Over the subsequent decades Fairchild spawned scores of spin-offs that helped create the semiconductor and high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.

The legacy of the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and the origins of the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley will be explored in a panel discussion at the Computer History Museum on Monday (Feb. 27). "The Rise of Silicon Valley: From Shockley Labs to Fairchild Semiconductor," is presented jointly by the Computer History Museum and SEMI. To register, visit here.