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From: Greg Heath on 1 Jan 2010 11:08 On Dec 28 2009, 2:03 pm, HardySpicer <gyansor...(a)gmail.com> wrote: -----SNIP > I think you are foolong yourself if you think that a professional > engineer can somehow spring into life via on the job training. > He/she would be good at the specific job of course but would have > little general EE knowledge to solve problems outwith the work > experience. > There was a time when maybe tha twas true - by exceptional people who > solved original problems etc Brunell, Watt and maybe even Heaviside? > I do agree however that an engineer in industry is going to know far > more about a problem he/she is working on than an academic. The > academic will (should) know more in general however. probably the > ultimate is an industrial research lab like Bell Labs where they have > the best of both worlds. This reminds me of my first big real-world revelation after majoring in electromagnetic theory/plasma physics/ microwave electronics and writing a 272 page theoretical PhD thesis. I purposely taught systems (linear and digital) and electronics (transistors and tubes) with labwork for 5 years (ostensibly to broaden my practical experience) before leaving to do full time research in ballistic missile defense. At the new job I was riding high because I had constructed a computer program that calculated multistatic (multiple receivers separated from the transmitter) radar cross sections by solving electric field integral equations on target surfaces. Although the model assumed plane wave incidence on smooth perfectly conducting targets, I had prepared quantitative recommendations to the military for a proposed multistatic missile defense system. Before the submission I was assigned to a new boss that had just come back from a 2-year stint at a radar installation in the south pacific. He looked at my draft, shook his head and snickered. He said "Have you ever seen a real missile warhead?". I said "No, but MY program handles sphere capped cones at arbitrary line of sight orientations ... so the calculations shouldn't be too far off. If you want, I can verify the calculations by having scale models built and tested at our model range in the basement. However, it will cost tens of thousands of dollars". He just smiled and walked away with his head shaking from side to side. The next day he gave me two tasks: 1. Go down to the subbasement to see and feel a real unarmed missile warhead and associated decoys. 2. Take $300K (in 1978 dollars) and have these targets measured at an outdoor range on the west coast. To make a long story short: Sometimes the connection between theory and the real world is very, very tenuous. Happy New year Greg
From: Phil Martel on 1 Jan 2010 11:36 "Greg Heath" <heath(a)alumni.brown.edu> wrote in message news:fd687e50-d6e1-40fa-8424-baa1b4fdb352(a)z40g2000vba.googlegroups.com... On Jan 1, 2:34 am, robert bristow-johnson <r...(a)audioimagination.com> wrote: > On Dec 31 2009, 1:12 pm, Eric Jacobsen <eric.jacob...(a)ieee.org> wrote: > > > On 12/31/2009 10:13 AM, robert bristow-johnson wrote: > ... > > > such as it is. Happy New Year (i'll be accompanying my kids to > > > "Burlington First Night", also, coincidentally, i turn 54 tomorrow, > > > big fat hairy deal.) > > > Happy b-day, dood! > > thanx. i am now officially middle-aged and krachetty. Sorry, we can't let you in until you are at least 55. Happy Birthday and Happy New Year anyway. Greg No, since I'm 60, the middle age point should probably be 63 or so... Happy birthday Robert and Happy New Year to all.
From: robert bristow-johnson on 1 Jan 2010 13:48 On Jan 1, 10:10 am, Randy Yates <ya...(a)ieee.org> wrote: > robert bristow-johnson <r...(a)audioimagination.com> writes: > > On Dec 31 2009, 1:12 pm, Eric Jacobsen <eric.jacob...(a)ieee.org> wrote: > >> On 12/31/2009 10:13 AM, robert bristow-johnson wrote: > > ... > >> > such as it is. Happy New Year (i'll be accompanying my kids to > >> > "Burlington First Night", also, coincidentally, i turn 54 tomorrow, > >> > big fat hairy deal.) > > >> Happy b-day, dood! > > > thanx. i am now officially middle-aged and krachetty. > > ...and Happy Birthday, Robert! Remember, you're not getting > younger, you're getting older. wunnerful. :-) (now recovering from taking my kids out to Burlington First Night.) BTW, i saw something on Facebook from you and from Eric, but i can't figger out how to navigate that thing. i don't spend much time there. r b-j
From: Vladimir Vassilevsky on 1 Jan 2010 15:01 Greg Heath wrote: > At the new job I was riding high because I had constructed > a computer program that calculated multistatic (multiple > receivers separated from the transmitter) radar cross > sections by solving electric field integral equations on > target surfaces. Although the model assumed plane wave > incidence on smooth perfectly conducting targets, Heh, during my post-graduate, I had to write a review on something very similar (may be, it was your work!). IIRC the goal of the author was inventing tricks to match spherical horses in vacuum to real life. VLV
From: Tim Wescott on 1 Jan 2010 21:30
On Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:01:32 -0600, Vladimir Vassilevsky wrote: > Greg Heath wrote: > >> At the new job I was riding high because I had constructed a computer >> program that calculated multistatic (multiple receivers separated from >> the transmitter) radar cross sections by solving electric field >> integral equations on target surfaces. Although the model assumed plane >> wave incidence on smooth perfectly conducting targets, > > Heh, during my post-graduate, I had to write a review on something very > similar (may be, it was your work!). IIRC the goal of the author was > inventing tricks to match spherical horses in vacuum to real life. > > VLV An ex-boss of mine has a PhD in physics. He mentioned to me once that this did not make him an expert at raising children: if his wife asked a parenting question he would say "Brigid, I can only answer that question for a perfectly spherical baby". -- www.wescottdesign.com |