I'm not sure this is a fair take. In regards to his conviction, his colleagues described Schrieffer as a cautious person.
"This is not the Bob I worked with," said Brown University (search) professor Leon Cooper, who with Schrieffer and John Bardeen was awarded the Nobel in physics in 1972. "This is not the Bob that I knew."
Based on what I've read, it sounds like he had some kind of psychiatric or medical issue at an advanced age that changed his personality, perhaps Alzheimer's. People rarely change personality that much for non-medical reasons.
I don't have enough evidence to make a strong case, but if my hypothesis is valid, it seems unfair to sum up his entire life as a "zero".
"This is not the Bob I worked with," said Brown University (search) professor Leon Cooper, who with Schrieffer and John Bardeen was awarded the Nobel in physics in 1972. "This is not the Bob that I knew."
Based on what I've read, it sounds like he had some kind of psychiatric or medical issue at an advanced age that changed his personality, perhaps Alzheimer's. People rarely change personality that much for non-medical reasons.
I don't have enough evidence to make a strong case, but if my hypothesis is valid, it seems unfair to sum up his entire life as a "zero".