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The "Famous Engineers" Series
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A Missed Vacation
That Changed the World |
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On a hot summer day in July, 1958, a young
engineer sits alone at his desk in Dallas, TX. Having
just joined Texas Instruments two months earlier, this Kansas
native can't join in the mass summer vacation that was
customary among TI employees at the time. |
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In the quiet of a vacant building, he conceives
a solution to the "tyranny of numbers". The transmitter,
invented in 1947, allowed engineers to begin building complex
circuits. However, advanced circuits required so many
components and wires that electric signals traveled too slow
through the circuit for it to be effective as a computer.
This was known as the "tyranny of numbers". |
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The 35-year old electrical engineer sketched
his idea on a notepad. He would build all of the
components of a circuit using a single block of semiconductor
material. He presented his idea to his bosses when they
returned from vacation. Although met with some
skepticism, he was allowed to build a test version of his
circuit. |
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On September 12, 1958, the world's first
integrated circuit was tested at Texas Instrument's
laboratories in Dallas, TX. The integrated circuit
changed the world! It allowed mass production of the
complicated circuitry required for modern computers and many
other electronic devices. |
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In addition to inventing the integrated
circuit, for which he received the 2000 Nobel Prize for
Physics, he was also co-inventor of the pocket calculator and
the thermal printer. |
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Who was this gifted engineer who changed the
world while his colleagues vacationed? |
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read more |
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Engineer Humor |
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engineers and three accountants are traveling by train to a conference. At the
station, the three accountants each buy tickets and watch as the three engineers
buy only a single ticket. "How are three people going to travel on only one
ticket?" asks an accountant. "Watch and you'll see," answers an engineer. |
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read more |
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Engineering Feat of the Month |
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Monthly profile of America's greatest engineering
achievements. |
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The International Tunnel |
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Completed in 1930, this remains
the only underwater vehicular tunnel ever built between two
nations. It was completed in 26 months at a cost of $23
Million. |
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Design and construction of the
tunnel was an engineering feat unparalleled at the time, using
three different tunneling methods. |
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The river section of the tunnel
was constructed using the "trench-and-tube" method. Nine
sections of concrete tube, each 31 feet in diameter, were
towed into the river on barges and sunk into a trench.
Divers then bolted the sections together and cemented the
joints. |
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The tunnel project was twice
started and abandoned. In the first attempt in 1871, a
pocket of sulphurous gas ended the project when workers
refused to return to work. The second try in 1878 failed
when limestone formations were encountered. |
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When the project was proposed
again in 1919, scientific experts predicted that anyone using
the tunnel would die of carbon monoxide poisoning. The
CO problem was solved by installing a massive 1.5 MMscf/min
ventilation system, capable of one complete air change in the
tunnel every 90 seconds. |
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What was this modern engineering
marvel? |
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read more |
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10/31 |
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NH |
30 PDH |
Based on Engineer's Birthdate |
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NY |
36 PDH |
Based on Engineer's
Birthdate |
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OK |
30 PDH |
Based on Date of Licensure |
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SD |
30 PDH |
Based on Date of
Licensure |
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TN |
24 PDH |
Based on Date of Licensure |
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