This document summarizes the secret history of Silicon Valley and its origins in technology developed during World War 2 and the Cold War. It describes how Stanford University became a center for military research in electronics and how this led to the growth of technology companies in the area. Radar and electronic warfare technologies developed for intelligence and military purposes helped drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. Key people like Frederick Terman at Stanford helped foster connections between academia and industry.
On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Secret History Stanford E Week Feb 21 2010
1. Hidden in Plain Sight: The Secret History of Silicon Valley Read the Blog www.steveblank.com Read the Backstory http://bit.ly/SecretStories Rev 5.02 Mar 2010
2. The Popular View of Silicon Valley History 1910 1960 1970 1980 2000 1990 Innovation Networks 1930 1940 1950 1920 Fruit Orchards Personal Computers Integrated Circuits Internet Fruit Orchards Fruit Orchards
3. The Real Story of Silicon Valley History 1910 1960 1970 1980 2000 1990 Innovation Networks 1930 1940 1950 1920 Microwaves Personal Computers Integrated Circuits Internet Test Equipment Vacuum Tubes
4. The Genesis of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship Steve Jobs Gordon Moore Marc Andreessen Hewlett & Packard 1950 1960 1970 1980 2000 1990 Innovation Networks Defense Personal Computers Integrated Circuits Internet
14. British/American Air War in Western Europe 28,000 Active Combat Planes 40,000 Allied planes lost or damaged beyond repair: 18,000 American and 22,000 British ( 46 000 planes lost by the USSR in the East) 79,265 Americans and 79,281 British killed, wounded or captured
79. Terman and the Cold War Silicon Valley’s 1st Engine of Entrepreneurship Steve Blank 23 Sept 2008 Free flow of People/Information Entrepreneurs Military Finance Crisis Profit Motivation Cooperative Culture Entrepreneurial Outward-Facing Tech Universities Risk Capital 24/7 Utilities Predictable Economic System Infrastructure Stable Legal System Technical Labs/Universities
83. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G TALL KING Early Warning Radar: Range ~300 miles Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
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85. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G TALL KING SA-5 Surface to Air Missile : Range 10-100 miles Altitude 1,000 - 60,000 feet Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
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87. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G TALL KING SA-5 AGM-28 : Nuclear Cruise Missile 1.1 MT weapon, Mach 2 Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
88. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G AGM-28 Severodvinsk Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
89. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G AGM-28 Severodvinsk SA-2 Surface to Air Missile : Range 5 – 25 miles Altitude 1,250 - 90,000 feet Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
90. Surface to Air Missile Defense of Severodvinsk Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
91. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G AGM-28 Severodvinsk SA-2 SA-3 Surface to Air Missile : Range 2.5 – 15 miles Altitude 60 - 54,000 feet Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
92. B-52 Bomber Strike on Severodvinsk B-52G AGM-28 Severodvinsk SA-2 SA-3 SA-5 Surface to Air Missile : Range 10 – 100 miles Altitude 1,000 – 60,000 feet Sean O’Connor http://geimint.blogspot.com/
93. Story 5: 1956 - The Year It All Changes Lockheed
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95. Lockheed and WS-117L NRO - Move Reconnaissance to Space Program A: Air Force - imaging and sigint Program B: CIA - Imaging electroopitcal and sigint Program C: Navy signit Program D: U-2, A-12/Oxcart, D-21/Tagboard SAMOS/SENTRY MIDAS - Program 461 IR - Launch Detection CORONA Imaging VELA Nuclear Detection Program P-11/ 989 SAMOS F-1/2/3 ELINT/SIGINT
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103. Story 6: 1956 Why It’s Silicon Valley Shockley
104. Meanwhile, on the Other Side of Town… The Head of Radar Bombing training for Air Force starts a Company
110. Story 7: Why We All Don’t Work for the Government The Rise of Private Capital
111. Venture Capital Silicon Valley’s 2nd Engine of Entrepreneurship Steve Blank 23 Sept 2008 Free flow of People/Information Crisis Profit Motivation Cooperative Culture Entrepreneurial Outward-Facing Tech Universities Risk Capital 24/7 Utilities Predictable Economic System Infrastructure Stable Legal System Technical Labs/Universities Entrepreneurs Venture Finance
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119. Defense R&D Budget Sources: United States National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2006, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/append/c4/at04-03.pdf; United States Governemnt, Budgetfor FY 05, Historical Tables, 2004, Table 9.7, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/-usbudget/fy05/hist.html $ Billions Defense R&D
120. Defense R&D Budget California Sources: United States National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2006, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/append/c4/at04-03.pdf; United States Governemnt, Budgetfor FY 05, Historical Tables, 2004, Table 9.7, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/-usbudget/fy05/hist.html $ Billions Defense R&D California Defense R&D
121. Defense R&D Budget Silicon Valley Sources: United States National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2006, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/append/c4/at04-03.pdf; United States Governemnt, Budgetfor FY 05, Historical Tables, 2004, Table 9.7, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/-usbudget/fy05/hist.html $ Billions Defense R&D California Defense R&D Silicon Valley Defense R&D
122. Defense R&D Budget Versus Venture Capital Sources: United States National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2006, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/append/c4/at04-03.pdf; United States Governemnt, Budgetfor FY 05, Historical Tables, 2004, Table 9.7, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/-usbudget/fy05/hist.html $ Billions Defense R&D California Defense R&D Silicon Valley Defense R&D Silicon Valley Venture
123. Defense R&D Budget Versus Venture Capital Sources: United States National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, 2006, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/append/c4/at04-03.pdf; United States Governemnt, Budgetfor FY 05, Historical Tables, 2004, Table 9.7, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/-usbudget/fy05/hist.html $ Billions Defense R&D California Defense R&D Silicon Valley Defense R&D Silicon Valley Venture
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126. Venture Capital Silicon Valley’s 2nd Engine of Entrepreneurship Steve Blank 23 Sept 2008 Free flow of People/Information Crisis Profit Motivation Cooperative Culture Entrepreneurial Outward-Facing Tech Universities Risk Capital 24/7 Utilities Predictable Economic System Infrastructure Stable Legal System Technical Labs/Universities Entrepreneurs Venture Finance
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128. Read the Blog www.steveblank.com Read the Backstory http://bit.ly/SecretStories
Notas do Editor
Silicon Valley has gone through several waves of innovation. Each wave of technology helped shape the next one. All are well understood except for one - Silicon Valley’s role in the defense industry. I’m going to tell you that story as I understand it.
Silicon Valley has gone through several waves of innovation. Each wave of technology helped shape the next one. All are well understood except for one - Silicon Valley’s role in the defense industry. I’m going to tell you that story as I understand it.
Silicon Valley has gone through several waves of innovation. Each wave of technology helped shape the next one. All are well understood except for one - Silicon Valley’s role in the defense industry. I’m going to tell you that story as I understand it.
So five short stories -
The surprise for me is that every war movie you ever saw about WWII was simply wrong. The directors and screenwriters did not know- even today - what I’m about to tell you - WWII was the first electronic war.
Just a bit of history. By 1940 Germany had overrun Europe. Britain stood alone until the U.S. entered the war Dec 7th 1941. Beginning in 1942 the goal of the US and Britain was to destroy the German industrial infrastructure by bombing Germany and occupied Europe from bases in Britain and to destroy: Transportation, petroleum, aircraft manufacturer, and euphemistically to “dehouse” the population.
Just a bit of history. By 1940 Germany had overrun Europe. Britain stood alone until the U.S. entered the war Dec 7th 1941. Beginning in 1942 the goal of the US and Britain was to destroy the German industrial infrastructure by bombing Germany and occupied Europe from bases in Britain and to destroy: Transportation, petroleum, aircraft manufacturer, and euphemistically to “dehouse” the population.
Allied Air War in Western Europe Strategic Bombing Campaign 28,000 Active Allied Combat Planes 40,000 planes lost/destroyed: 18,000 American and 22,000 British 80,000 Americans and 80,000 British killed
It started with 100’s of long-range radars picking up the bombers as they formed up 200 miles away
By 1941 the Germans had built a formidable electronic screen.
46 000 planes lost by the USSR in this war. German planes lost in war with USA/Britain: 23 895 German planes lost in war with USSR: 52 850 ꀾ
It started with 100’s of long-range radars picking up the bombers as they formed up 200 miles away
As the planes crossed the English channel and got over occupied Europe they encountered the Himmelbelt. An integrated local air defense network. Each box of 20 by 30 miles had radars, flak (or anti aircraft guns, fighters, and in the night-searchlights). This network was to track, target and destroy the incoming bombers. At first the British sent in their planes one at a time in order to force the defenses to be spread as far apart as possible, meaning that any one aircraft would have to deal with little concentrated flak. However this also meant the Himmelbett centers were only dealing with perhaps one or two planes at a time, making their job much easier. Bomber Command reorganized their attacks into streams of bombers, carefully positioned so the stream would fly right down the middle of a cell.
Each Himmelbett zone, had a Freya radar Unlike the early-warning Freya, W ur zburg's were accurate (and complex) tracking radars. One would be locked onto the night fighter as soon as it entered the cell. After the Freya picked up a target the second W ur zburg would lock onto it, thereby allowing controllers in the Himmelbett center to get continual readings on the positions of both planes, controlling them to a visual interception. Later additions added the short-range Lichtenstein radar to the aircraft, allowing them to detect the aircraft once the operators had directed them into the general area.
Each Himmelbett zone, had a Freya radar Unlike the early-warning Freya, W ur zburg's were accurate (and complex) tracking radars. One would be locked onto the night fighter as soon as it entered the cell. After the Freya picked up a target the second W ur zburg would lock onto it, thereby allowing controllers in the Himmelbett center to get continual readings on the positions of both planes, controlling them to a visual interception. Later additions added the short-range Lichtenstein radar to the aircraft, allowing them to detect the aircraft once the operators had directed them into the general area.
Each Himmelbett zone, had a Freya radar Unlike the early-warning Freya, W ur zburg's were accurate (and complex) tracking radars. One would be locked onto the night fighter as soon as it entered the cell. After the Freya picked up a target the second W ur zburg would lock onto it, thereby allowing controllers in the Himmelbett center to get continual readings on the positions of both planes, controlling them to a visual interception. Later additions added the short-range Lichtenstein radar to the aircraft, allowing them to detect the aircraft once the operators had directed them into the general area.
Here’s a Freya on the right and a Freya with a Wurzburg on the left
resembled a movie theater with bleacher seats map of the battle area
About 40% of the bomber losses were from flak.
About 60% of the bomber losses were from fighters.
These antennas are the first airborne radars on fighters. By the end of the war all the German night fighters had them.
I mention this because these radars will figure in one of our later stories.
The wizards of Langley: inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology By Jeffrey T. Richelson page 87-89
simulated B-52 gravity bomb strike in the mid 1960s on the naval support facility at Sevastopol. BUFF payload...call it a B-52G with two underwing AGM-28s and a B-53 nine megaton bomb in the weapon bay.
See http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Rus-SAM-Site-Configs-A.html for SAM details
AGM-28 isn't a decoy or a drone, it was a no-shit standoff cruise missile. It was designed so that the BUFF didn't have to mess around with overflying someplace like Moscow which had a crapload of SAM defenses. 1.1 megaton W28 warhead, max range of 1,100 kilometers at high altitude. Could change course and altitude inflight, allowing it to take an optimum path to target.
The BUFF would be hitting the main harbor, where the shipyard is. Look at Slide 5-see the red dot where it says Severodvinsk? The blue rectangular blob to the west (very slightly northwest) is the naval yard. The idea would be to take out anything in the yard and neutralize the repair/refit/construction capability. SEVMASH, one of the big sub and ship plants, is in Severodvinsk, for one. Current imagery in Google Earth shows them refitting the Admiral Gorshkov for the Indian Navy.
SAM ranges:SA-2 - 7 to 43 kilometersSA-3 - 3.5 to 25 kilometersSA-5 - 17 to 160 kilometers (took a bit to get going and get everything spun up...later versions had nearly double the range, but they weren't even being tested yet) SAM altitudes:SA-2 - 400 to 30,000 metersSA-3 - 20 to 18,000 meters (a lot lower than the SA-2, which is why the SA-3 was originally conceived-a low-altitude gap-filler counterpart to the SA-2)SA-5 - 300 to 20,000 meters (yes, only around 60,000 feet or so and less than the SA-2-not quite the Blackbird killer just yet, they had problems with trajectory shaping on such a large missile)
The wizards of Langley: inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology By Jeffrey T. Richelson page 93, 155 http://www.vectorsite.net/ttradar_4.html
1961 - Arthur Rock (former investment banker at Hayden, Stone & Co. (arranged financing for Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957), Thomas J. Davis, Jr. (former VP of Kern County Land Company responsible for investing land trust's royalties) formed Davis & Rock in San Francisco, CA as partnership (not SBIC or publicly-held); raised $5 million (capital gains split 80/20 between limited partners/general partners); 1968 - partnership dissolved (generated $90 million in capital gains, 54% compound growth rate; Teledyne, Scientific Data Systems biggest hits); first venture capitalist on the West Coast; July 16, 1968 - launched Intel with Bob Noyce (group vice president of Fairchild Semiconductor), Gordon Moore (head of Fairchild Semiconductor's R&D division).
1961 - Arthur Rock (former investment banker at Hayden, Stone & Co. (arranged financing for Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957), Thomas J. Davis, Jr. (former VP of Kern County Land Company responsible for investing land trust's royalties) formed Davis & Rock in San Francisco, CA as partnership (not SBIC or publicly-held); raised $5 million (capital gains split 80/20 between limited partners/general partners); 1968 - partnership dissolved (generated $90 million in capital gains, 54% compound growth rate; Teledyne, Scientific Data Systems biggest hits); first venture capitalist on the West Coast; July 16, 1968 - launched Intel with Bob Noyce (group vice president of Fairchild Semiconductor), Gordon Moore (head of Fairchild Semiconductor's R&D division).