IP: Generations of Engineers -- a sad reflection of "demise"

[Dave Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Date: Wed, 07 Feb 1996 19:13:28 EST
From: fraser@ccl2.eng.ohio-state.edu


As all remnants of the old Bell Labs continue to disappear, I worry
about what we have lost. 


My father (who will be 80 in April) worked for Bell Labs for 35 years.
He was the telephone engineer on the Long Lines when it laid the first
transatlantic telephone cable in the mid50s. During the time he worked
there, Bell Labs engineers were encouraged to take equipment home.
They could take any kind of equipment. The Bell Labs kids were
recognizable in school by their four-hole notebooks and matching paper.


As a consequence, I grew up in a household where there was engineering
stuff just lying around for me to play with, especially phones,
batteries, connectors, various kinds of meters, etc., etc. Ok, this is
probably not the only reason I ended up as a professor of engineering
(being good at math was another reason) but I have to believe that the
Bell Labs policy of "take the stuff home" made a difference to me. And
I can't be the only kid who was affected by that policy. 


It won't happen in the future to other kids. 




Jane Fraser
Ohio State University
fraser.1@osu.edu