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IEEE Washington Section |
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Serving members in the District of Columbia and part of Maryland since 1903 |
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e S C A N N E R Calendar Index Technical Societies and Affinity Groups L I N K S |
HistoryThe 1920s: Peacetime ResearchAccording to one source, the Great War demonstrated that modern wars are not of armies but of peoples, and their resources and their intellectual and industrial resourcefulness are more important than the identical equipment of armies and fleets. Therefore, a government that pays attention to education and research and industrial developmental work is making the best preparation for possible wars of the future. "...If the government will cooperate with the industries in peace as effectively as the industries cooperated with the government in war, it would be of vast benefit to the public, which pays all the costs." In an article dated February 4, 1921, and titled "Oscillographic measurements of the instantaneous values of current and voltage in the battery circuit of automobiles": Performance curves showing the instantaneous demands made upon automobile starting and lighting batteries when cranking the engines have been obtained recently at the Bureau of Standards. These curves were made while preparing specifications for this type of battery for the motor transport division of the War Department. In the course of these experiments additional information was obtained with respect to the operation of the starter system and the engine itself. In March 1921, experiments were conducted under the supervision of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory on radiotelegraphy. The details are extensive; some of the description is as follows. Several experimenters have attempted to measure the wave front angle by means of receiving loops. In the final experiments the mast with its pivoted antenna and instruments was erected on the Anacostia Flats not far from the Washington Navy Yard. The absence of wire lines and houses within a distance of more than a quarter of a mile made this an ideal location. Preliminary observations had been made at the Bureau of Standards in the summer and autumn of 1919. Unfortunately the work at Anacostia was stopped because the 50-foot pole for the antenna was considered too dangerous for the aviators at Bolling Field! In 1923, a radio program talk show on WRC, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, was announced for February 19, on the topic "What the Earth Is Made of." Later that same year, the Washington Academy of Sciences resolved to petition the President of the United States and the rest of the federal government to provide by law and to appropriate the necessary money for the attendance of scientists designated by the federal government at scientific congresses, conventions, and meetings in this country. It was argued that these appropriations would be exceedingly small as compared with the returns from them in great benefits to scientific advance in America and to the promotion of the national welfare. |
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Send changes to Tim Weil at trweil@ieee.org or Elsie Grant at ncac-scanner@ieee.org. |
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