In the winter of 1954–1955, William Shockley, an inventor of the transistor and a visiting professor at Stanford University, decided to establish his own mass production of advanced transistors and Shockley diodes.[2] He found a sponsor in Raytheon, but Raytheon discontinued the project after a month.[3] In August 1955, Shockley turned for advice to the financier Arnold Beckman, the owner of Beckman Instruments.[2][4] Shockley needed one million dollars.[3] Beckman knew that Shockley had no chance in the business, but believed that Shockley's new inventions would be beneficial for his own company and did not want to give them to his competitors.[5] Accordingly, Beckman agreed to create and fund a laboratory under the condition that its discoveries should be brought to mass production within two years.[6]