Dr. Frederick Terman has been widely recognized as the godfather of Silicon Valley (Lowood, 1982). Terman, a Stanford University electrical engineering professor, managed Harvard University\u27s Radio Research Laboratory during World War II and returned as Stanford\u27s dean of engineering. His commitment to seeing California companies in science-based industries seize postwar opportunities to push ahead of their Eastern counterparts influenced the venture investing as well as the entrepreneurship that built a thriving high-technology industrial community around Stanford University. Terman\u27s wartime experience shaped his postwar role as a leader of high-technology entrepreneurship. Wartime experiences similarly influenced individuals who invested in California ventures after the war. Environmental shifts during World War II did much to foster the industrial community now known as Silicon Valley
