The Genius Factory is the story of the most radical human-breeding experiment in American history: the Nobel Prize sperm bank. It opened to notorious fanfare in 1980, and for two decades, women flocked to the bank from all over the country to choose a sperm donor from its roster of Nobel-laureate scientists, mathematical prodigies, successful businessmen, and star athletes. But the bank quietly closed its doors in 1999--its founder dead, its confidential records sealed, and the fate of its children and donors unknown. While researching Nobelist William Shockley, a donor to the bank, award-winning Slate columnist David Plotz kept coming across references to the Repository. He realized that no one knew how this audacious venture had turned out. So in early 2001, Plotz set out to solve the mystery of the Nobel Prize sperm bank.