PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E.-Waves and Electrons Section

went into them seldom involves new prin-ciples-only new applications. Now look atthe I.R.E. Take any issue of the PROCEED-INGS. Nearly all of the papers are aboutsome new idea. The resulting apparatus andequipment often are not described at all.We have been criticized for this, and per-haps rightly. One would like to see descrip-tions of new equipment in the PROCEEDINGS.However, as long as the disclosure of newideas continues, 1, for one, will not worryabout the direction the Institute is facing. Itis the right one. As this research backgroundapplies to the PROCEEDINGS, so also it ap-plies to the Sections individually, and, be-cause it is the collective organ bf the Sec-tions, to Headquarters as well.

Look at the Institute meetings that cre-ate the greatest interest. I remember, manyyears ago, when Hartley's paper on carrierand sidebands was given. That was a bigmeeting for those days. I remember theother meetings where papers were givenwhich described new ideas. Events such asthose stand out and have made the Institutewhat it is today-a forum fpr new ideas. Thepeople who are responsible for the new ideasare the ones who have built the Institute,

and, wherever they are found, in the north,south, east, or west, the meetings they engi-neer and run will always have the same kindof interest.

Meetings concerned with description ofa new type of apparatus are fine. It has beensaid that we need more of them, and per-haps that is so. This does not mean, though,that we want them at the expense of meet-ings and papers that tell about new ideas.

New ideas are something like mathe-matics. I once had a professor who used agreat deal of mathematics. One day hestartled the class with the statement,"Mathematics is a crutch for feeble minds."When our astonishment had become appar-ent, he glared at us and continued, "Howmany of you think you can get along with-out it?" New ideas are the scaffolding bymeans of which new apparatus can be de-veloped. When the apparatus is complete, thescaffolding may be removed and a child canoperate the equipment without knowledge ofthe ideas from which it was built. But theideas were needed to produce it in the firstplace, and without them nothing new wouldresult.

From all this it may be concluded that in

the enthusiasm of starting a new Section, thefirst thing is to insure that it has the backingand support of whatever research groups arelocated in the vicinity. Ordinarily this is notdifficult, for it is the research people them-selves who, in many cases, are promoters ofnew Sections. It is much more difficult whenno research is located within the proposedSection. In such cases some very strongcompensating influence is usually needed toinsure success.

Finally, the same conclusions apply tothe broad policy operations of Headquartersand the Board. Let the Institute keep its struc-ture supported by the research worker, and,despite the ups and downs of the times, de-spite the possibility of pressure to move usthis way and that way, we shall be in a posi-tion to progress-keeping always the at-tributes of youth, even as research itself isalways new-and to move in new ways andnew paths, but with the fundamental sound-ness that goes with a good research job. Ihave every confidence that this will alwaysbe the aim and outlook of the Institute, evenas it reflects today the adherence to the re-search tradition which has been oursthrough the years gone by.

Relation of the Engineering Profession to

World Affairs *C. B. JOLLIFFEt, FELLOW, I.R.E.

AM GRATEFUL for the opportunityto participate in a symposium on theengineering profession. Much good can

be accomplished by an exchange of experi-ences and by a discussion of our technicalwork as wvell as our aims and ambitions.

As engineers and scientists, we have con-tributed greatly to the rise of science and in-dustry as dominant forces in modern life.Yet, when the results are integrated into thelife of the nation, there remain broad areasin the field of human relations in which ourservices to society have been more potentialthan real.

The gears of the machinery of living are

* Decimal classification ROIO XR071. Originalmanuscript received by the Institute, March 11, 1947.Presented, 1947 I.R.E. National Convention, March5, 1947. New York, N. V.

t RCA Laboratories Division. Radio Corporationof America, Princeton, N. J.

not meshing properly, and the over-all opera-tion is less efficient than we like to admit.Our efforts to fix up this machine and makeit run smoothly are too often ineffectual.The oil of expediency is not solving theproblem.

World conditions are most extraordinaryand paradoxical. The earth contains suffi-cient resources to provide food and shelterfor all mankind, yet the greater portion ofthe world's population lacks these necessitiesof life. Knowledge and education are right-fully the common property of all men, butmost of the world lives in relative ignorance.Industry and commerce can provide wealthfor all nations, yet there are the "haves"and the 'have-nots."

Finally-and most important-we havethe precepts of philosophy and religion bywhich man can live peacefully and happily

with his fellowmen; but nations quarrel, go

to war, and create indescribable nlisery anddestruction.

The brutal devastation of World War IIand the awesome reality and possibilities ofatomic energy have shocked the world fromits complacency as nothing has ever donebefore. Leaders of science and industry were

quick to take advantage of this openingwedge in the public-consciousness.

They have told us that man has danger-ously overdrawn the balance between thephysical and the social sciences. Materialismhas been too long in the ascendency. Moraland spiritual values have dropped low onthe scale of life. Consequently, we find our-selves unprepared to deal adequately withthe great physical powers we now possess.

That does not mean that a solution liesin a decrease in our efforts to advance

In a world devastated by war and torn by political and social dissensions, the engineer finds himself in aconfused environment strangely different from the productive surroundings and logically analytical atmosphereof the laboratory and shop. Amid the chaos of present-day so-called civilization, the constructive aims of theengineer are too often thwarted by misapplication of his contributions. He may find want and misery where hiswork might be expected to breed prosperity and happiness. There follows a paper which squarely faces thisproblem. The pertinent and constructive views in this paper originate from an author who is a former ChiefEngineer of the Federal Communications Commission and a director of the I.R.E. As the executive head of alarge research laboratory, he is in a position correctly to appraise the problems he here analyzes.-The Editor.

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science. On the contrary, our labor in thisdirection must be unremitting; for from suchefforts-will continue to come new means ofemployment and wealth for all men. It isby this means that the standard of livingthroughout the world can be raised steadily.What is needed is a new emphasis on thesocial sciences.

Inherent in the warnings voiced by topmen in science and industry is a challengeto act-to do something beyond the limits ofour own profession. The program of TheInstitute of Radio Engineers recognizes thisfact with this symposium which gives us theopportunity to take stock of ourselves asengineers. The time is well chosen, for on allsides human behavior is being subjected tocritical analysis. If our own inventory iscarefully made, we may find ways of vastlyincreasing our usefulness.

I have been asked to discuss the engi-neering profession in relation to industry,with emphasis on the engineer's responsi-bilities, his opportunities for growth, and therequirements he must meet for leadership.This calls for a substantial amount of intro-spection-a weighing of values we seldomthink of in a work-a-day world.

Modern life is complex because man hasmade it that way. Every advance in thephysical sciences, with its consequent spreadof industrialization, has brought new com-plications. The many advances have re-sulted in far-reaching changes in home life,the ways of earning a living, and in thepractices of government, business, and com-merce.

Ours is an industrial world, whereintechnological development is a principalfactor. The wealth and power of nations isbased on the ability to manufacture, to dis-tribute, and to use the products and servicescreated by science.

Science has taught us to use heat, water,electricity and, now, atom fission, as sourcesof power. It has given us steam, electricity,gas engines and turbines, and jet propulsionengines. It has given us mass production,fast and efficient transport on land and seaand in the air, instantaneous communica-tion around the earth, and mass communica-tion by broadcasting. It has developedchemistry, medicine, and other fields ofknowledge to an extent undreamed of onlya generation ago.

Upon the continuing development ofscience and engineering rests the industrialmight of the United States. Moreover, allof our economic, political, and social ac-tivities are closely geared to the industrialwheel. Let this wheel cease to turn and theresults would be chaos.

When it is remembered that substan-tially more than half of our national econ-omy is dependent upon industrial activity,the responsibility of the engineering profes-sion assumes a new order of magnitude.

To state the obvious, the high standardof living we have achieved, particularly herein America, is almost entirely due to indus-trial progress. In our own industry, this prog-ress is based on scientific research and de-velopment. It is our responsibility as scien-tists and engineers to see that this researchand development is not reduced.

Industry depends upon us and has shown

its willingness to support our activity. Ithas confidence that important results willbe forthcoming. The growth in the numberand importance of industrial laboratoriesduring the past twenty years reflects thisconfidence. Industry, I am sure, will notbe disappointed in the results it obtains.

The industrial scientists should con-stantly explore new areas of knowledge,developing information upon which new orbetter products and services may eventuallybe based. A portion of his work must befree and unguided investigation of purescience-a seeking of knowledge for knowl-edge's sake. Progress depenids upon this typeof effort.

Industrial laboratories have drawnheavily on the bank of fundamental scientificknowledge. Due to the demands of war, ouraccount in this bank of knowledge hasdropped very low and the balance needs tobe restored. Here, industry and its scientistshave a definite responsibility. Only throughtheir efforts added to those of Americanscientists working in other laboratories canAmerica hold her place of world leadershipin science and industry.

It is also necessary for industrial engi-neers to carry research and developmentdirected to the creation of products and serv-ices which can be adapted to immediate orfuture practical use. Were this not done, in-dustry would inevitably slow down due to alack of new and better products. The steadyrise in the standard of living would halt,gradually to slip backward and downward.

The general public judges the results ofscientific discovery on the basis of the prod-ucts and services that are delivered to it.A profound discovery that stops with dis-covery cannot be appreciated outside theworld of science. A good example of this isfound in our own field. The mathematicalwork of Maxwell was a wonderful achieve-ment, but it lay dormant, as far as the gen-eral public was concerned, for more thantwenty years. It took the work of Hertz,Marconi, and the many hundrees of radioscientists and engineers of more recent yearsto translate Maxwell's mathematics intoworld-wide communications, radio broad-casting, television, radar, facsimile, and themany other services of radio and electronicsthat are within the common experience ofpeople today.

World War II gave science a new mean-ing to the average man. Science and engi-neering provided the instruments with whichthe war was fought and won. We, the radioscientists and engineers, made an enviablerecord in the war. Radio was the onlymeans capable of providing the kind of com-munications necessary in a war of speed andmovement, fought on a global scale. Radarhelped beat back t-he enemy in the air, andsonar stopped him at sea. Shoran enabledour armed forces to make pin-point bomb-ing attacks in darkness and through over-cast. Loran guided our planes to tinyislands lost in the vastness of ocean space.The proximity fuze brought destruction andconsternation to enemy land forces and air-craft, and television gave long-range eyes toairplanes and projectiles.

These and the accomplishments of engi-neers working in other fielcls were a remark-

able demonsttation of the power of scienceand engineering to supply the technical basisof industry. The release of atomic energy,overshadowing as it did all other wartimedevelopments, was positive proof that sci-ence had stepped into a more dominant rolein the affairs of man. With this moredominant role the responsibilities of theengineer have been greatly increased.

Unlimited horizons of technological prog-ress stretch ahead through scientific in-vestigation. It has been demonstrated, timeand time again, that the scientific method isthe key to unlocked doors of the future.For this reason, it is all the more regrettablethat, knowing this to be true, we have notapplied it more extensively to the solutionof purely human problems.

In the application of science to industrythe engineer has played the principal role, buthis technological accomplishments oftenhave not been properly applied. It is properto place the chief blame for this unsatisfac-tory application on those leaders of businessand government who guide and direct na-tional and world affairs. However, the engi-neer can take small comfort from this fact,for he has failed to develop the all-importantquality of leadership outside of his profes-sion. He has left in other hands, often handsless skilled than his, the job of controllingthe benefits of his creative work.

The results of our purely engineeringefforts are manifest in the many materialassets we have today. But we, as engineers,have done little to see that these benefits aredistributed in a way that will do the mostgood for the greatest number of people. Wehave, in general, been satisfied with develop-ing the tools for a better life but have takenlittle or no responsibility for their use andapplications by society.

Now, the engineer must reorient histhinking. He must act in a way that will givehis special training and abilities greater in-fluence on industry and on society. He mustadjust his ideas to a new set of standards forpersonal conduct. The responsibilities thatgo with any type of engineering are enor-mous, and now more than at any other timein the world's history the "man in the street"should be able to look to the engineer forguidance in a scientific world. I am confidentthat application of the orderly thinkingand the precise methods of science to theproblems of society would pay as highdividends as they have in the production ofmaterial wealth.

Considered strictly from the engineeringviewpoint, any man who engages in thisprofession must assume certain basic obliga-tions. To begin with, before even taking upthe study of engineering, he rrust analyzehis own nature to determine whether he isresponsive to the exacting demands of scien-tific endeavor. He must acknowledge therigid discipline of intellectual attainment,and he must place truth, with regard tohumanity as well as to science, above allother considerations.

Today's engineer owes it to his professionto acquire as much education and basictraining as it is within his power to obtain.It is not enough, however, to study thephysical sciences alone. The modern engi-neer, in addition to his special training, must

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E.-Waves and Electrons Section

know the broad principles of psychology,economics, and political science. He mustknow something of ethics, as well as of logic.In other words, he must be a citizen as wellas a scientist, for he needs to relate hisachievements in science to the whole ofhuman endeavor.

Some years ago, it was sufficient if anengineer possessed the requisite technicalknowledge to do his job; qualities of leader-ship were not a necessary attribute. Grad-ually, as industry expanded, however, itbecame necessary to find members of theprofession who could exercise guidance overother engineers, groups of technicians, andother workers.

With this new demand, it became evi-dent that many engineers had to have some-thing more than technical competency. Ad-ditional requirements included the abilityto handle men, to understand the motivesthat actuate them, and to plan programs ofresearch, development, and production thatwould bring the greatest benefit to theorganization for which the work was beingdone.

Now, it is equally evident that this newresponsibility must be extended beyond therelatively narrow limits of the engineeringlaboratory. The present period has beencalled the Age of Science. If the descriptionis apt, then we need more scientists andengineers in positions of leadership. Theymust extend their influence into the levelsof management in both business and govern-ment and accept the responsibilities that gowith leadership.

This thought brings us back to the fieldof human relations. Many scientists andengineers feel that they do not have time,as men of other professions do, to participatein activities unrelated to their work. I dis-agree with that idea completely. I see noreason why an engineer cannot take as muchpart in business and public affairs as lawyers,physicians, and educators. We should breakout of our professional shell and becomebetter citizens. In fact, I think a broadeningof interest would make us better engineers.

Here is the most fertile field for the growthof our profession. By finding ways and meansof impressiig the proved methods of scienceupon the many other forms of humanactivity, we can make a significant contri-bution toward the development of a betterlife.

It is axiomatic that knowledge precedesunderstanding. We are constantly amazed,however, at the small amount of knowledge,analysis, or understanding that enters intowhat are called "solutions" to some of themajor problems of business and government.But, you ask, what can we, as engineers, doabout it?

In reply, let me first ask a question. Whatdo you do, as an engineer, when confrontedwith a complicated problem in the labo-

ratory or workshop? You gather all the in-formation on the subject that is obtainableand you study it in relation to your problem.If more information is needed, you do re-search. You find out the facts all of them,not just some of them. You analyze thefacts, evaluate them, test their effects, andcalculate the results. By these orderly andoften laborious processes, you arrive at asolution. Seldom are you so fortunate as tofind the answers by a "flash of genius."

Few people outside of scientific circlesknow about this simple formula-the "sci-entific method." Fewer still use it. I canthink of no valid reason why this formulashould not be just as successful in solvingother problems of industry and even theproblem of organized society as it is in deal-ing with the problems of physical science.

This situation holds the answer to ouroriginal question of what to do. There is aclearly indicated need in nearly all levels ofbusiness and society for the well-disciplinedmental processes of the engineer. As an ad-vocate of the "scientific method," in circlesoutside of your profession you can exert aprofound influence on community life, busi-ness, and government. But first you mustconvince others of your availability for ex-pert counsel and leadership. You mustabandon the "ivory tower."

Most of you have probably noted howthe art of public relations is moving rapidlyinto the front rank of management circles.Here is an art that recognizes the high valueof developing good impressions. Its practi-tioners specialize in examining management'spolicies to determine their public relationsaspects, and, where necessary and desirable,to interpret them in the most effective man-ner possible.

Industrial management's increasing useof public relations methods, particularly inrecent years, reflects its acceptance of awider responsibility to society. Without lossto private enterprise and individual initia-tive, there is greater recognition of the inter-dependence of the various forces involved incommunity life.

Why is management accepting this widerresponsibility? The answer is, I believe, thatmanagement-on an ever-rising scale isgiving greater consideration to human val-ues-values that are assuming larger impor-tance as this civilization of ours grows morecomplex.

Science is in the public eye as it never wasbefore, and we should take advantage of it.A few scientific and technical men have re-cently become articulate in the world of pub-lic affairs, but if science is to continue todeserve respect many others must do like-wise. We must not let the new voice of sci-ence die out, for it is one of the most effec-tive means of achieving sound public rela-tions for engineering.

I know of no time in the history of science

and engineering when conditions were morefavorable for our professional growth andleadership. In the radio industry, we are par-ticularly fortunate. The new radio services offrequency-modulation broadcasting and tel-evision are just getting started as great newservices to the public, and the many miraclesof wartime research are available for appli-cation to peacetime uses. The developmentand use of these and other scientific discov-eries yet to be made are a challenge to ourability as engineers; they also represent newopportunities for leadership.

The requirements for leadership are sim-ple, yet exacting. In the engineering field,they call for a broadening of interest, and anexercise of duty over and beyond the tech-nical limits of our profession.

We must acquire a greater knowledge ofhuman behavior, business operations, andsocial institutions. Only by doing so can webe prepared to accept greater responsibili-ties.

We must develop a feeling for leadershipand a confidence in our ability to provide it.We must emerge from our laboratories totake a greater part in community affairs. Wemust extend our influence into the level ofmanagement in both business and govern-ment, and we must be ready to accept posi-tions of leadership at that level. We must bearticulate in the expression of our ideas andconcepts, and we must learn to speak inwords free of technical terminology. Aboveall else, we must maintain the integrity ofthe engineering profession.

I have noted, with deep concern, a fewinstances in which false engineering conceptshave been supported by men of supposedlygood professional standing. This is both dan-gerous and unrealistic; for science permits nocompromise with truth.

As competition grows, engineers will besubjected more and more to commercial andpolitical pressures for the sake of expediency.These pressures must be resisted with all ofour power. Dishonest engineering counselcan have ill effects of far-reaching signifi-cance and can do great harm to our profes-sion. It can even damage our economic struc-ture and weaken national security.

As professional men, zealous of our posi-tion in society, we must be prepared to dealsummarily with those who would lower ourstandards. In engineering, there is no substi-tute for intellectual honesty. We must insiston the "scientific method" in our every un-dertaking.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize thatsociety for too long a time has tolerated in-efficiencies in human relations that we, asengineers, would never countenance in thelaboratory. There is the challenge to leader-ship! I urge you to accept it. Only by ac-ceptance of higher responsibility with theengineer fulfill the great promise of his pro-fession.

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