Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineers from the Past

Submitted by Dick Reiman, Historian

Copyright 1991 IEEE Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, "Scanning the Past" which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 87, No. 1, January 1999

Some Reflections on an Electrodynamic Century

Viewed from the perspective of an observer who has lived through nearly seven decades of the twentieth century, the diversity and pervasiveness of electrical and electronics applications have been a source of continual astonishment. Electrical engineers, scientists, and inventors have served as principal agents of change and seem destined to remain so in the twenty‑first century. In 1831, just a century before I was born, the eminent English electrical scientist Michael Faraday (Fig. 1) reported his discovery of electromagnetic induction and the great Scottish theorist James C. Maxwell was born. The Faraday phenomenon became a cornerstone of electromagnetic science and led to the invention of the electric dynamo and the transformer which became and still remain vital elements in systems for the generation and distribution of electric energy. Alexander G. Bell's (Fig. 2) telephone, introduced in the 1870's, was another major invention based on electromagnetic induction. Maxwell's famous synthesis, first published in the 1860's, was expressed succinctly in his electromagnetic field equations. His theory provided a satisfying interpretation of diverse phenomena including electromagnetic wave propagation and found an early technological expression in Guglielmo Marconi's wireless communication system in the 1890's.

Fig. 1. Michael Faraday photograph copied from a daguerreotype when he was 50 years

of age. (From J. Tyndall, Faraday as a Discoverer. Appleton, NY, 1873.)

Fig. 2. Alexander G. Bell, the seventh president of the AIEE (1891-1892), as published in the

Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, vol. X, 1893, frontispiece.

The twentieth century has seen a steady development of several clusters of electrotechnology, most notably in the fields of power and control, communication, and computing. Electric energy with its remarkable flexibility has become ubiquitous in industry, transportation, and the home. Electric motors have become so prevalent in everyday life as to be taken for granted, except when they fail to operate properly. In the communications cluster, a sequence of systems has emerged beginning with wire telephony and followed by radio, television, radar, and wireless personal communication. The growth in these systems has been facilitated greatly by a dramatic extension of the boundaries of the useful electromagnetic spectrum by means of the broadband coaxial cable technology, microwave devices, and, more recently, optical fiber and lasers. The creation of communications satellites and the explosive expansion of Internet usage are the latest chapters in the ongoing saga with social, cultural, and economic consequences which are still poorly understood.

The computing sector also has been altered at an almost incredible pace. During the first half of the century, the term computer commonly was applied to human specialists in computation or to analog machines used to solve differential equations. The last half century has brought on a new age based on digital and solid‑state electronics with an accelerating change from a few large digital computers in the 1950's to the egalitarian personal computer of today. The microprocessor has already permeated almost every aspect of life in myriad applications including the control of home appliances and automobiles. The cumulative impact of the growth and convergence of these clusters appears far greater than anticipated by even the most sanguine forecasters during the early phases of development.

Thomas A. Edison (Fig. 3), whose contributions to the genesis of the electric power industry are well known, died in 1931, about five months after I was born and a century after Faraday's great discovery. The electric power, telephone, and radio industries (Fig. 4) were well established in 1931 and widely accessible, at least to urban residents. However, my early years were spent living on a small farm in the North Carolina mountains where we did not have electric lighting, a telephone, or a radio receiver. Our lighting was provided by a few kerosene lamps, and fuel for cooking and heating came from the oak trees which grew on our mountain. Water was piped into the house from a nearby spring. The arrival of a power line when I was about ten years old left an indelible impression, as did the mail‑order radio which delivered the voice of Edward R. Murrow from England and music from Nashville. These early experiences stimulated my interest and curiosity about things electrical.

Fig. 3. Thomas A. Edison. (From Camp Cooperation Book

of Proceedings. Associated Island Corporation, 1914.)

Fig. 4. Marconi Company radiophone transmitter. (From A. N. Goldsmith,

Radio Telephony. New York: Wireless Press, 1918.)

Engineering students on the campus where I studied electrical engineering in the 1950's could readily be identified by the slide rule scabbards attached to their belts. In the June 1972 issue of the Hewlett‑Packard Journal, I learned of the HP‑35 described as a "nine‑ounce battery powered scientific calculator, small enough to fit in a shirt pocket." The lead article predicted that before long, "that faithful 'slip stick' may find itself retired" since the new calculator "produces those answers more easily, more quickly, and much more accurately." The forecast was soon confirmed, although I still become rather nostalgic when I pick up the Keuffel and Esser log‑log duplex vector slide rule that I carried as an undergraduate and continued to rely on for many years afterward. Stored in the basement of the building where I was a student engineer was an 1880's vintage Edison bipolar generator which, I believe, eventually was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

Much of the electrical engineering curriculum was devoted to direct-current and alternating‑current machinery (Fig. 5). We also learned a great deal about vacuum tubes and associated circuitry. The transistor was treated only briefly in the last chapter of our advanced electronics textbook, and it seemed to pose little threat to the vacuum tubes. So far as I can remember, the only computer we encountered as undergraduates was a laboratory analog computer with its operational vacuum‑tube amplifiers and plug‑in components. We were encouraged to join a professional engineering society and I became a student member of both the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) some years before the merger created the IEEE.

As a teacher of electrical engineering during the 1960's, I developed a strong interest in the historical roots of electrical science and engineering. Electrical history has been a central focus of my professional life since 1969. 1 joined the IEEE History Committee in 1973 and served on the Committee for more than two decades. I contributed a paper to the August 1978 issue of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE which attempted to summarize the current state of scholarship in electrical engineering history and discussed needs and opportunities for further work. I concluded that "despite some encouraging developments ... IEEE history remains a comparatively undeveloped frontier." About a year later, a new IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering was established. It has evolved into a highly respected and productive institutional focal point for scholarship, education, and service to the EE profession on matters relating to electrical history.

5,000 H.P. ALLIS-CHALMERS ENGINE, DIRECT-CONNECTED TO GENERATOR

CARRIES 5,600 H.P. with 15 inches vacuum.

Machinery Hall, World's Fair, St. Louis

Fig. 5. View of a 5000 H.P. Allis-Chalmers Engine, which was direct-connected to a generator, at Machinery Hall, St. Louis Worlds Fair (1904). (From Modern Engineering Practice. Chicago: American School of Correspondence, 1906.)

During the past eight years, it has been my privilege to discuss the contributions of selected pioneers in electrical engineering in "Scanning the Past." Among the individuals included in the series were 36 who served as president of either the IRE or AIEE, 32 recipients of the Medal of Honor, and 19 recipients of the Edison Medal (there were a few who received more than one of these honors). The term "scanning" seems an especially felicitous metaphor for what I aspired to do when I began the series and it still seems appropriate. As I learned as a student in a military school on radar almost half a century ago, certain types of scanning apparatus were designed to collect data on the past behavior of, for example, an invisible flying object. The data might then be used to facilitate the prediction of future behavior of the object. We also learned that some echoes might be false, misleading, or obscured by noise. Both the radar operator and the historians need to draw on all their training, experience, and cultivated instincts in order to arrive at a judicious selection of the particular echoes likely to prove most illuminating in the analysis of trajectories.

For the next several months, this space is to be devoted to a series of retrospective articles concerning electrotechnology in the twentieth century written by members of the committee and staff of the IEEE History Center. As we approach the end of the "electrodynamic century," surfing the past may challenge scanning the past as a more evocative metaphor for a new generation of electrical historians. But, whatever the metaphoric choice, I anticipate that the editors of this PROCEEDINGS in the twenty‑first century will continue in the tradition of all their antecedents and provide space for contributions concerning electrical history.

James E. Brittain

School of History, Technology, and Society

Georgia Institute of Technology