Icons of EE

Thomas Bayes tried to answer the greatest answer of all time: “if miracles occur, does God exist?”, but can we also use this to derive from the miracle that you passed module 1 that you will get your degree in the end?

This edition of Icons of EE turns everything upside down. Unlike any other important electrical engineers featured by ‘de Vonk’ until now, the person is not named until the very end of the article. You might recognize them by their accomplishments and find out at the very end on what humble beginnings these great achievements are based. The story starts at an unavoidably big hirer of Electrical Engineering Alumni from the University of Twente: Thales. ...

As the last edition of ‘Icons of Electrical Engineering’ crossed the Atlantic into London through the efforts of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, you might have a clue of where we’re headed. Inspired by the Oyfo Technology Museum based in the old Hazemeijer factory in Hengelo I visited some time ago, it is time to discover the local engineers that were at the foundation of powering our dearest Twente. Born in 1863, Rento Crull was a Dutchman contemporary to icons as Ferranti (1864). ...

The name Ferranti has been notorious in electrical engineering history until Ferranti International P.L.C. finally went bankrupt in 1993, after having experienced over a century of business. This article will reveal the achievements of a very important player in the Current War, although he did not appear in many of the media at the time. Ferranti was less a man of drama, he rather let his inventions speak for themselves. ...

Although the War of Currents might seem a classic feud between Edison and Westinghouse, both Army Generals had their lieutenants. For Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla was an important player because of his advancements in alternating current inventions. Edison was far from alone in his fight, receiving unofficial cooperation from Harold P. Brown, feared by many as “The Executioner”. Brown rose when the competition was getting ever more heated, when Edison needed him the most. ...

The 19th century was host to some of the largest scientific advances. Hence it is only fitting that, within the topic of Icons-of-EE, we focus on perhaps the largest topic, the electrification of the world. The previous article introduced George Westinghouse, a proud American and provocateur of AC-power. His War of the Currents was originally driven by the need to light up the world. But the availability of electricity also provided the means for other applications. ...