Icons of EE

Science and engineering are great, as long as they are used. Think of vaccines, which lose their value when fewer people make use of them. That is why this article on another icon of Electrical Engineering heroes not necessarily a man known for his inventions, but for his propagation of other men’s ideas. The 19th century was host to some of the largest and most useful developments in physics, electronics and science in general. ...

In the last edition of ‘Icons of Electrical Engineering’ we met Richard Feynman (See Vonk 37-3). Among other things, he is famous for the creation of ‘The Feynman Lectures on Physics’ which are commonly used to lecture students on a wide variety of physics subjects including electrodynamics. As you all (will/should become to) know, electrodynamics can be described by the four Maxwell equations. However, James Clerk Maxwell derived a total of 20 equations with 20 unknowns to describe this part of physics. ...

After following module 4, you probably wondered, “why is there an image of Feynman playing the drum on page one?” Well, you’re in good company, he didn’t get it either. Richard Feynman was, however, an avid drummer. He was also a safe cracker, a nude model painter and a world-renowned lecturer. Oh, and he also won a Nobel Prize in physics, but, considering his personal life, one could argue that’s not his biggest achievement. ...