Editing Jay Last (section)

==Early life and education==
Last was born in [[Butler, Pennsylvania]], on October 18, 1929,<ref name=CHFMooreAndLast>{{cite book|first1=David C.|last1=Brock |first2=Christophe |last2=Lécuyer |title=Gordon E. Moore and Jay T. Last, Transcript of an Interview Conducted by David C. Brock and Christophe Lécuyer at Woodside, California on 20 January 2006 |date=January 20, 2006 |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/sites/default/files/moore_ge_and_last_jt_0327_suppl.pdf |place=Philadelphia, PA|publisher=[[Chemical Heritage Foundation]] }}</ref> at the beginning of the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Stock Market Crash of 1929]], and grew up during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="transcript">{{cite book|first1=David C.|last1=Brock|title= Jay T. Last, Transcript of an Interview Conducted by David C. Brock at Beverly Hills, California on 21 June 2004 |date=June 21, 2004 |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/sites/default/files/last_jt_0292_suppl.pdf |place=Philadelphia |publisher=[[Chemical Heritage Foundation]] }}</ref><ref name=Makers/> Both his parents were teachers, but his father left teaching to work in a [[steel mill]] in hopes of earning a better living. During the depression, there was no work in the steel mills, but the family managed by growing and preserving its own food. During [[World War II]], his father worked six to seven days a week, 12 hours a day, under demanding and dangerous physical conditions. Jay Last enjoyed hiking, walking, and exploring while growing up. Between his junior and senior years of school, at age 16, he and a friend hitch-hiked to [[San Jose, California]], and worked for the summer picking fruit.<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite news |last1=Metz |first1=Cade |title=Jay Last, One of the Rebels Who Founded Silicon Valley, Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/technology/jay-last-dead.html |access-date=November 21, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 20, 2021}}</ref>

A voracious reader, he tended to complete his schoolwork well in advance of the rest of the class.  He was encouraged by his chemistry teacher, Lucille Critchlow, who recommended him to work with [[Frank W. Preston]], a local industrial chemist whose laboratory studied glass and glass fracture. Last began working at Preston's lab as a high-school student and continued to work for him as a university student, whenever he had a break.<ref name="transcript"/>

Last graduated from [[Butler Senior High School]] in 1947 and applied for a scholarship to study [[Optics]] at the [[University of Rochester]].  Last had heard about the program from his father and did not apply anywhere else.  It was a rigorous program, and three-quarters of the entering class had dropped out by the time the program was finished. The program had close ties to [[Eastman Kodak]] and to [[Bausch & Lomb]]: Last's class in [[optical design]] was taught by [[Rudolph Kingslake]] of Kodak. Last worked for a summer at the trouble-shooting department of Kodak's optical instrumentation plant, before his senior year of university. He tested a camera, to be used in the [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B52 aircraft]], at −60&nbsp;°F temperatures.  He earned his [[bachelor's degree]] in Optics from the [[University of Rochester]] in 1951. He had become increasingly interested in [[physics]], and was encouraged by an advisor, [[Parker Givens]], to become involved in the emerging area of [[solid-state physics]].<ref name="transcript"/>

After accepting an offer to study at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], he joined the laboratory of physicist [[Arthur R. von Hippel]], and studied the physical structure of [[ferroelectric materials]]. He also took classes from [[John Clarke Slater]] and [[Victor F. Weisskopf]]. A material he was working with, [[barium titanate]], underwent unusual structural changes when it became ferroelectric, requiring Last to study it using [[infrared spectroscopy]].  Last used a new instrument, a Beckman IR-3 spectrophotometer, and worked closely with staff from [[Beckman Instruments]] to report and fix problems.<ref name="transcript"/>

He earned his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in physics from MIT in 1956.<ref name="transcript"/><ref name=Makers/><ref>{{cite web|title=Commencement 2011: Awards and Honorary Degrees|url=http://www.rochester.edu/commencement/2011/honorees.html|website=Jay T. Last|publisher=University of Rochester|accessdate=February 7, 2013|archive-date=September 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912133902/http://www.rochester.edu/commencement/2011/honorees.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=London|first=Jay|title=The Origins of Silicon Valley, Through the Eyes of MIT Alumni|url=http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/|newspaper=Slice of MIT|date=February 5, 2013|access-date=February 8, 2013|archive-date=October 26, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026005753/http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was attracted by the west coast, which he had visited as a student. With possibilities of working at [[General Electric]], at [[Bell Laboratories]], and at Beckman Instruments, he was referred by [[Arnold Beckman]] to [[William Shockley]]. Shockley was starting up [[Shockley Semiconductor]] as a division of Beckman Instruments. Shockley flew out to MIT to recruit Last, and made a vivid impression.<ref name="transcript"/> Regarding Shockley's arrival, Last has said, "I thought, my God, I've never met anybody this brilliant. I changed my whole career plans and said I want to go to California and work with this man."<ref name=MacLowryPBS/>