engineer in the house

Whenever a medical crisis arises, the cry goes up, is there a doctor in the house? A life could be saved if such an individual were at hand (except for the potentially litigious malpractice cases in which a doctor is wise to remain incognito). There is another crisis called war, in which the skills of electronics engineers are indispensable, and are there sufficient engineers to heed the call to arms? Congruently, do we do we possess an existing industrial complex employing said engineers capable of immediate conversion to the production and deployment of the necessary weapons of war? Surely the masters of our present and future fates, the politicians, place the security of our country first on their agenda as they go about their daily fence mending.

However, when High-Tech confronts our legislators, of whom the vast majority are scientifically illiterate, the urgent necessity to cultivate a complete spectrum of weapons manufacturing is fractured in sometimes obtuse fashions. High Definition TV is an excellent case in point.

The Commerce Dept. has just announced it was dropping its focused initiative on HDTV and "would stress efforts like tax credits for research and development and relaxation of antitrust rules to allow companies to form consortiums that could make all American industries more competitive". Nice words, that probably came straight out of an MBA's manual, but they have no relevance to the real world configurations. In all the hearings held by Commerce and Congress, did not Congress hear loud and and clear that America is no longer manufacturing televisions, designed and built at home by American citizens? How on earth could the alternative, as suggested by Commerce, restore our television factories? As a former manufacturer of TV, we could not revive the dead plant with their transfusions. In my previous editorial, I commented that we had to abandon our traditional stand in favor of free trade, and set up tariffs to protect vital industries as does the rest of the world. We are no longer rich enough and smart enough to enjoy the luxury of posturing as the prophet of free trade.

The major problem with scientifically illiterate masters whether they be law judges or politicians, is the inability to choose which side of the question to favor. Invariably, it seems, there appears at every hearing equally skilled and prestigious experts taking exactly opposite positions. While it is true that a scientific education alone will not give the judge an infallible decision, one would be better able to look behind the facade of a PhD and see what bias the witness possesses.

The American Electronics Association program to spend 1.3 billion of government funds to define an American HDTV system and revive domestic TV production has been shot down and with it (my estimate alone) 10,000 engineering positions. It is tough enough to persuade American citizens to enroll in the punishing pursuit of an engineering degree (liberal degree = little work) without a job waiting for the diploma. I am sure you are all aware of the shortage of engineers and of the fact that, while the engineering student enrollment is constant, foreign students are filling the places left vacant by American citizens. Up to 50% of undergraduates and an even higher percentage of graduate students are from abroad and of a very high achievement level. For the future of our science and financial health, I hope the foreigners decide to remain and become as productive citizens as they have been as students.

Defense of our country is still my primary concern and that subject that has not been given its just due in the HDTV debate. Perhaps this anecdote from WWII will serve to illuminate the value of a scientific degree to the military.

Before Pearl Harbor, Europe was at war in 1939 and the US was torn with debate as to our role in helping the democracies over there. Isolationism was very strong and President Roosevelt was limited to financial support, self defense of American owned property and shipping. You may remember that he gave England 50 old Lend-Lease destroyers. Meanwhile our armed forces were beefed up, a draft was instituted, and industry was put on a semi-war footing. The Allies position in Europe collapsed into England and the headlines shrieked horrors of the Battle of Britain. England needed more of everything and we shipped everything except manpower. However, one area was so desperate that Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to break his vow to Congress and send incognito 1000 engineers to man the secret weapon (no one was allowed to mention the word Radar) to save England from the German bombs.

The National Research Council, Office of Scientific Personnel sent a letter to all known graduates in science, subject to the draft, offering an appointment as a second lieutenant in any branch of the armed forces. I responded and was interviewed at the Hotel Lincoln in New York City by an army colonel in mufti. Perhaps because I majored in Physics, he said that I would be guaranteed a position in electronic research in the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth. Wow, I was intrigued. Show me the application and I would sign up immediately! And I did. Upon arrival at Fort Monmouth I was informed that I had been assigned to the Electronics Training Group number 6 and after a short indoctrination in -hush-hush- Radar, I would leave for England on a liner (Empress of India) as a tourist to England and then sign on with the British Army as a Radar officer to help in the Battle of Britain! Not only was research a fairy tale but I could be regarded as a spy by the Germans and a lawbreaker by Congress! Perhaps it was fortunate that Pearl Harbor came along and my position was legitimized as an ordinary soldier on a secret mission (Radar). Churchill did get 1000 Radar officers. I spent the year of 1942 as a Signal Corp Officer on detached duty with the Royal Marines Ack-Ack command, servicing 6 anti-aircraft radars in Cornwall. The moral of my story is obvious - we need electronics engineers in the house and TV factories could supply them.