The Americans were told that Chinese scientists didn’t publish their research because they opposed “self-glorification.” Bardeen knew something about scientists obsessed with self-glorification from his work with Shockley, who unfairly claimed all the credit for inventing the transistor. The example of Shockley—a brilliant scientist but a failed businessman—demonstrated that the link between capitalism and self-glorification wasn’t as straightforward as Maoist doctrine suggested. Bardeen told his wife that despite claims of equality he found Chinese society regimented and hierarchical. The
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