PROCEEDINGS

IEEE,OF THE VOL. 64, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 1976 1399

I n Perpetuity, the Accentis on Youth in training him and of the engineering society in keeping him
up to date.
Even younger IEEE members will stake out claims in these So it transpires that in the realm of technology, beyond one
richveins. It has been ever so. Francis Bacon’s observation horizon looms another horizon and then a majestic procession
was: “The invention of young men is more lively than of old, of horizons. Our Institute, still young in spitit, while having
and imaginations streaminto their minds better. A man that is a i m s and objectives, has no final goal, landfall, anchorage,
young in years may be old in hours, if we have lost no time.” journey’s end, or portof disembarkation. One skipper relieves
In recognition of an ungratified want, even a youth can draw another skipper, and by another is relieved. If, in the instance
upon a selective memory for facts and useful parallelisms and of the Royal Society, thesame process has already goneon for
by acombination of reasoning andimagination reorganize three centuries, who can gainsay that The Institute ofElec-
them into an original mode or concept: something new under trical andElectronics Engineers, under whatever name, is
the sun. In the orderly presentation of experience-for youth likely to be equaling that record at about the time theDeclara-
to adopt or brush aside-lie both the usefulness of the college tion of Independence is celebrating its quadricentennial?

A Brief History of Electrical Engineering Education

FREDERICK E. TERMAN, FELLOW, IEEE

Manuscript received January 1,1976.

The author is with Stanford University, Stanford.CA 94305.
1400 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, SEPTEMBER 1976

INTRODUCTION most
the successful was the Thomson-Houston ElectricofCo.
L Y ~MA.^ ,
HE
HISTORY of electrical engineering education During the period 1877-1880, Edison developed an incan-
parallels thedevelopment of the electrical industry, descent lamp system’ as an alternative to the previously used
particularly of the electrical manufacturing industry. gas lights and kerosene lamps. In 1882 a central station em-
The electrical experimenters, inventors, and innovative en-
bodying the Edison principles was completed on Pearl Street
trepreneurssuch as Edison, Morse,Weston,Brush,Bell, in New York City, and sold electric lighting on a commercial
Sprague, Westinghouse, Thomson, etc., whodeveloped the basis that was competitive with gas lighting. This installation
early practical applications of electrical phenomenon, were
was a financial success, andincandescent lighting was soon
either trained in related disciplines such as physics, chemistry,
being employed in anincreasing number of cities. The f h
mechanics, etc., or wereself-trained resourceful tinkerers
created to exploit the Edison system was the Edison General
possessing elements of genius. However, once industrial
Electric Co.
applications hadbeendeveloped tothe point where there The resulting widespreadavailability of electrical power
were electrical installations to be designed and electrical
provided by the Edison lighting system created a market for
equipment to be manufacturedand soldin substantial vol-
electric motors, a market which Frank Sprague was the f i t
ume, a need existed for trained electrical engineers to design,
to exploit in amajor waybeginningin 1884.The electric
test, and improve this equipment as well as to supervise pro-
motor soon made it unnecessary for industrial plants to use a
duction, installation, andmaintenance.Thusthehistory of
steam engine,or tobe located near water power.
electrical engineering education over the years has paralleled
The development of satisfactory electric motors opened up
the developments takingplace in electrical manufacturing.
the possibility of electric traction. The first entirely satisfac-
tory electric railwaysystem was that built by Spraguein
THE BEGINNINGSOF THE AGE O F ELECTRICITY
Richmond, VA? It became fully operational in 1888 and
The first important practical application of electricity was made horse cars forever obsolete.
the telegraph, invented by Samuel F. B. Morse, who was an Around 1885 attention began to be given to the possibility
artist by profession. Thekeydate is 1844 when telegraph of using alternating current (ac) instead of direct current (dc)
service betweenBaltimoreand Washington was inaugurated. in systems of electrical power.Thetransformer hadbeen
Also,more or less withtheintroduction of the telegraph, invented a few years earlier and although there was some ini-
electrical systems came into use for such applications as fire tial confusion as to the best way to use it, there was an appre-
and burglar alarms and for railwaysignaling. Important as ciation of the fact that the ability to transform voltage held
these events were, they did not create much of a demand for promise of economies. The ac motors were being developed,
electrical engineers since the instruments to be manufactured includingcommutatormotors,and also Tesla’s induction
were simple, and were inexpensive as compared with the value motor for whichWestinghouse had purchased the American
of the outside plant. patent rights. A meter for measuring ac power was also in-
In the mid-l870’s, AlexanderGraham Bell, a speech teacher, vented around this time by Shallenberger. The essentials for
began to experiment with theelectrical reproduction of sound, an ac system of electrical lighting and power accordingly be-
and in March 1876 he was issued the basic patent on the tele- came available.
phone. An early model of his telephone system was exhibited In1886, GeorgeWestinghouse formedthe Westinghouse
in Philadelphia at the Centennial Exhibition in June 1876.’ In Company as a spinoff from his Union Switch and Signal Com-
spite of patent litigation and the need for making further tech- panyfor the special purpose of concentratingonac possi-
nical improvements, some 778 telephones were in service by bilities. This was in spite of the fact that Westinghouse’s
August 1877, and another application of electricity had been advisors almost to a man felt that ac had little future in com-
found. petition with dc.
In 1884 a group of 71 individuals who were active in the a p Under the encouragement of Westinghouse, William Stanley
plication of electricity to useful ends gathered together in New installed an ac incandescent lighting system in Great Barring-
York Cityandformed the American Institute of Electrical ton, MA, in 1886, which involved transformers that were con-
Engineers. Thesechartermembersincluded Weston,Brush, sidered the heart of ac long-distance transmission. In the fol-
Sprague, Edison, Thomson,Bell, Sperry, andProfessor Cross. lowing yearsadditionalac central lighting systems were
The f i t industrial application of electrical power was the installed by Westinghouse Electric Company in various parts
illumination of streets, auditoriums, and other large spaces by of the United States, and also by the Thomson-Houston Com-
the electric arc. A commerciallysuccessful arc light system pany. The Edison interests reacted vigorously against the use
was developed in the period 1875-1 879 by Charles Brush of ac but were unsuccessful in their efforts. The controversy
of Cleveland, culminating in the installation in 1879 by the between ac and dc systems subsided in 1892 when the Edison
California Electric Company of San Francisco of two dynamos General Electric Company united with the Thornson-Houston
supplying a total of 22 arc lights. Thiswas the f i s t electric Company,already in the acbusiness, to form the General
central station in the world, and it was an immediate commer- Electric Company. Thomas Edison felt so strongly on the sub-
cialsuccess. Within six months additional equipment had been ject of ac that after the merger he resigned as director of the
installed that supplied over 50 arc lights. During thenext General Electric Company and for therest of his life had noth-
two years Brush central stations were established in a number ing to dowith it.
of American cities including New York, Boston, and Philadel- aOther pioneer developers of arc lighting systems included Edward
phia. Additional companies quickly enteredthe field;of these Weston,founder of theinstrumentcompany bearing his name,and
Elmer Sperry of gyroscope fame.
3This employed the Edison 3-wire directcurrent system.
1 See Hounshel paper, this issue. See Condit paper, this issue.
TERMAN: HISTORY OF E.E. EDUCATION 1401

Around 1890 the subject of how to utilize the power that In 1881,the year before the M.I.T. wurse inelectrical
was potentially available from NiagaraFallsbecame a lively engineering was first announced, only four of all the graduates
topic.After a number of studies the decision was made in that M.I.T. had produced since its f i s t commencement in
1893 to use ac for transmitting power to Buffalo, NY, 20-mi 1868 were working in the field of electrical engineering. Thus
distant, and bids were put out in October 1893 for the first the first electrical engineering programs were created more in
three generators. Westinghouseinsisted on the useof 25 Hz anticipation of what was expected to develop than t o meet an
rather than the originally specified 163 Hz and won the initial already existing need. However,events quickly justified the
contract. Later orders weredivided between Westinghouse supporters of these programs, and by the 1890’s enrollment in
and General Electric. The first generators went into service them was as great if not greater than in the older fields of civil
in 1895. As things developed, much of the power was used and mechanical engineering. Thus at M.I.T. 27 percent of all
locally for electrochemical industries that sprang up adjacent theinstitute graduates in 1892 were electrical
engineers.
to the power houses, but 5000 kW of the initial power was Again, at Stanford the “pioneer” class of 1895 included more
transmitted t o Buffalo in a two-phase 2200-V system.’ electrical engineers than either mechanicalengineers or civil
Thus by 1900 anelectrical industry had come intobeing and engineers.
was a part of life in the United States. There was the telegraph The electrical content of the early electrical engineering cur-
and the telephone. The country’s streets, stores, homes, and ricula was minimal.Engineeringknowledge about electrical
buildingswerebeing illuminated by electric lighting,using phenomena was limited, there were few if any textbooks, and
either arc or incandescent lights as the occasion required. laboratory facilitiesweremeager. For example, Hams J.
Power distribution systems had beendeveloped that made Ryan, long-time head of electrical engineering at Stanford,
possible the economic transmissionof electrical energyover oncestatedthat when he entered Cornell as a freshman in
substantial distances, and electric motors were coming into 1883the electrical engineering laboratory of the university
use in large numbers. The electric street car was in common was “little more thanthe electrical section of the physics
use. Some of the enthusiasts of the time exclaimed that the laboratory of that day.” The“littlemore” was one direct
age of steam was over, and the age of electricity had amved! current generator built by Professor William Anthony in 1874
and exhibited at the Centennial in Philadelphia. At M.I.T. the
EARLYELECTRICALENGINEERING
CURRICULA laboratory situation was only slightly better until the comple-
The flowering of the electrical industry in the decade 1875- tion of the 40000 square-foot Augustus Lowell Laboratory of
1885 not only established electrical engineering as a challeng- Electrical Engineering in 1902 financed by a memorial gift of
ing profession, but also created the need for educational pro- $50 000 made by the sons and daughters of Augustus Lowell.
grams that would prepare young men for careers in this new M.I.T.’s 1882 curriculum for electrical engineers is given in
and exciting field of activity. Table I and clearly shows its close relationship to physics. It is
The first educational program in the U.S. designed t o train interesting t o note the absence of electives and the consider-
young men for a career in the new electrical industry was able number of required courses in the humanities and social
established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sciences.During the following years, until well after World
(M.I.T.) in1882. It was under the friendly sponsorship of War I , the general pattern of electrical engineering curricula
Physics Professor Charles Cross, head of the Physics Depart- gradually changed with emphasis on dc and accircuits, on the
ment, who had become interested in the applications of elec- characteristics of motors, generators, transformers, distribu-
tricity.The 1882-1883 M.I.T. catalog describes it as “an tion systems, etc., and on the measurement of electrical quan-
alternative courseinphysics * forthe benefit of students tities. A few courses were commonly available as professional
wishing to enter upon any of the branches of electrical engi- electives dealing with such subjects as communication systems,
neering.” In 1884 this course of study was renamed electrical batteries, electrical railways, illumination, etc. Some schools
engineering, although still under thesponsorship of the Physics offered a course in “wireless” telegraphy, but this was the ex-
Department where it remained until1902, when a separate ception rather than therule.
Department of Electrical Engineering was established at M.I.T.
Similar programs quickly followed at other institutions. In UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA BETWEENTHE WARS
1883, CornellUniversity announced a programin electrical After World War I , new factors began to influence electrical
engineering sponsored by Physics Professor William Anthony. engineering. The vacuum tube had become a device that could
Subsequently, in 1885 when Thurston became head of engi- not be ignored. The broadcasting industry came into being
neering at Cornell, he took an interest in electrical engineering and grew rapidly. Radio communication expanded as the pos-
and worked cooperatively with the Physics Department. In sibilities of the higher frequencies became understood, and
time a separate department of electrical engineering came into water cooled tubes weredeveloped that could produce sub-
existence. stantial power, including power at these “short-wave” fre-
In 1886 an electrical engineering department was organized quencies. Furthermore, the telephone industry exploited new
atthe UniversityofMissouri. The University ofWisconsin possibilities created by the vacuum tube, and not only steadily
organized such a department in 1891. When Stanford Uni- increased the technological level of its activities, but became of
versity enrolled its f i s t freshman classin 1891the catalog growing importance as an employer of electrical engineers.
stated that students interested inelectrical engineering should As a consequence of these new factors, communication op-
enroll in mechanical engineering, but the 1892-1893 catalog tions (sometimes formal, often informal) began to appear in
shows a functioning but very small (one man) separate elec- electrical engineering curricula in the 1920’s and were selected
trical engineering department. by an increasing number of students. These communication
programs were typically built around the interests of one or
5 See Belfield paper, this issue. two younger faculty members, many of whom had been radio
 1402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, SEFl’EMBER 1976

TABLE I
ELECTRICAL M.I.T. 1882
ENGINEERING CURRICULUM
FIBSF YEAR

Term Second F i r e t Term

Alpbra continued. Plane and Spherical Trigonometry.

Solid Ceaetry. GeneralChemistry.
General Chemistry. Qualitative A ~ l y ~ i s .
ChemicalLaboratory. Chemical Laboratory.
Rhetoric. E n g l i s h History.
English Caposition. English Literature.
French. Rench.
n K h a n i c a l Drawing. Mechanical Drawing.
Free b n d Drawing. Free Hand Drawing.
Military Drill. M l i t a r y Drill.

SECOND YEAR

Second First Term Term

Physics, Lectures. Physics. Lectures.

Physical Laboratory. General Laboratory PhysicalLaboratory,GeneralLaboratory
Work and E x p c r i m t a l Acoustics. Work, Acoustics,SimpleApplications
A n a l y t i c Geometry. of E l e c t r i c i t y .
Shopwrk, Carpentry; Wood M u 1 Turning. Differential Calculus.
Descriptive Astronomy. Shopuork; Wood and &tal Turning.
English History and Literature. Physical Geography.
Gerun. English Hiatory and Literature.
Gerrn.
General Phyaics. Theoretical Acoustics.

m m
F i r 8 t Term Second Term

Physical Laboratory,SpecialMethods in Physical Laboratory. Electrical Measurements

Photometry. and Testing.
G e n e r a lP h y s i c s ,E l e c t r i c i t y ,P h o t m e t r y . G e n e r a lP h y s i c s ,E l e c t r i c i t y .
IntegralCalculus. Advanced Physics. kkwirs, e t c .
Applied kchanics. History of Physical Sciences.
kchanicalEngineering,TheoryandPractice Applied Mchanics.
of Steam and other Engines. M c h n i c a lE n g i n e e r i n g .
I l c e h a n i c a l h b o r a t o r y . Use of Dy-ccrs. Ilcchanical Laboratory.
I n d i c a t o r s ,e t c . Political Econmy.
Conmtitutional History. Germsn.

FcuRmYEAR

First Term Term Second

P h y s i c a l L a b o r a t o r y , E l e c t r i c a l T e s t i n g and Physical Research.

Construction of Instruments. General
Physics,
Applications of E l e c t r i c i t y .
General Physics. Applications t o Telegraph, Advanced Physics, Hemoirs, e t c .
T e l e p h o n e ,E l e c t r i cL i g h t i n g ,e t c . P r i n c i p l e s of S c i e n t i f i c I n v e s t i g a t i o n .
Photography. Advanced M t h e P r c i c s .
History of Physical Science. Note.--The s t u d e n t is advised to cake
k c h a n i u l Engineeringlaboratory. Advanced Genmn.
Applied Mc,hanics, Thermdynamics.
Hydraulics,etc.

h a m s in their earlier days, and who entered into the rapidly on the typical campus, and the question could legitimately be
expanding field ofwhat we now call electronics with an raised as to whether many of the professors of that era were
enthusiasm which theytransmitted to theirstudents.The really qualified to offer born fide graduate work.
result was that the communication options in electrical engi- Before WorldWar I the large manufacturing concerns, no-
neering grew steadily in popularitythrough the 1920’s and tably General Electric and Westinghouse, had developed spe-
1930’s. cial programs for the initiation ofcollege graduates into the
world of electrical engineering. These companysponsored
GRADUATESTUDY IN ELECTRICAL activities were regarded by students as highly desirable step-
ENGINEERING1882-1945 ping stones in the development of careers in electrical engi-
neering. In public utilities, fresh college graduates were com-
Graduate study in electrical engineering beyond the bache- monly assigned to thedrafting board or to construction
lor’sdegree developed only very slowly in the period before projects and thereby gained practical experience in a different
WorldWar I. This is illustrated by the data in Table 11. The manner. During this period many of thebetter organized
general attitude during this period was that upon obtaining a employers felt that a college man with a master’s degree was
bachelor’sdegree the electrical engineering studentshould less useful to them than a man with a bachelor’s degree, since
find a job and get practical experience. In fact, until well into in theiropinion the former hadwasted ayear by hanging
the 1920’s there was little in the way of organized instruction around college andthereby avoiding facing up tothe real
in electrical engineering beyond the bachelor’s degree available world.
TERMAN: HISTORY OF E.E.EDUCATION 1403

TABLE I1
A N D DOCTOR’S DEGREES
MASTER’S AWARDEDIN %ME REPRESENTATIVE
INSTITUTIONS
1
fister’s Degrees Doctor’s Degrees
Total in 5-year periods Total in 5-pear periods

u cal cal u cal c.1

Period E Stanford (B) Cornell E Stanford (B) Tech Cornell
1900-04 2 1 0 + 6 0 0 o + 1

1905-09 4 3 0 + 8 0 0 o + 1

1910-14 10 4 0 + 7 2 0 o + 1

1915-19 5 27 6 + 9 1 4 o + 1

1920-24 127* 34 8 0 1 5 2 0 0 0 0

1925-29 291 66 8 15 13 4 3 1 5 0

1930-34 256 50 33 62 29 16 8 0 12 6

1935-39 215 41 31 51 5 19 5 5 15 3

1940-44 156 52 9 34 2 6 11 1 6 5

1945-49 337 200 46 99 25 16 24 1 12 17

1950-54 546 329 133 93 57 65 67 19 26 13

1955-59 665 418 133 172 46 69 94 26 17 11

1960-64 820 670 328 123 197 137 185 72 33 31

1965-69 1109 873 584 141 364 204 252 158 46 6%

1970-74 602 827 630 88 300 231 242 202 72 43

1 Some of numbers contain a small proportion of pre-doctoral, post-master degrees.

* In 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, and 1924, degreeswere 7, 4, 37, 45, 34, respectively.

+ C I T did not function as a collegiate institution until 1921.

In the pre-World War I period almost no doctor’s degrees M.I.T.’s cooperative program. This was an imaginative arrange-
wereawardedbyengineering schools, as is apparentfrom ment devised through extensivediscussions between M.I.T.
Table 11. In this period few industrial employers would have and several thoughtful leaders at the Lynn works of the Gen-
known what to do with a man who had a doctor’s degree in eral Electric Company, including Elihu Thomson. The coop
electrical engineering, beyond ignoring the fact that he was erative students were a selected group who at the end of their
“overeducated.” sophomore year were enrolled in a three-year program (includ-
After the end of World War I, the situation began to change. ing summers) that involved alternating periods of studyat
By this time two new factors had entered the picture. First M.I.T. and work assignments at the Lynn plant. At the end of
and most important was the growing importance of the com- fiveyears (including the freshman and sophomore years on
munications field, particularly of the vacuum tube. This tech- campus) these “coap” students received the bachelor’s and
nology was sufficiently complex that a year of graduate work master’sdegrees simultaneously. A unique feature of this
added very substantially to thecompetence of a young man in program was that during their work periods the c o a p students
the communication field. Furthermore, the teachers incom- carried at least one regular M.I.T. course taught in the evenings
munication were typically young and vigorous faculty mem- by an M.I.T. faculty member or a General Electric engineer.
bers, who were themselves exploring and developing the field The reasoning was that in the real world engineers would need
of communication, and so had interesting projects for bright to continue to study and they had better start developing the
students who stayed in school beyond the bachelor’s degree. habit of doing so as soon as possible.
A second factor was that by the end of World War I even the This programwas extremely successful. In fiveyears of
older fields of electrical engineering had matured sufficiently elapsed time it gave the student a far better training than he
to provide subject matter of solid worth-material that was im- could get in a four-year bachelor’s degree program plus a year
portant in the real world but which could not be added to an and a half of realworld experience. Further, it generated
already crowded four-year undergraduate curriculum. The enough income to more than finance the additional year in-
combined resultof these factors was that the period 1920- volved in the program. In time M.I.T. developed cooperative
1942 saw a gradual expansion of enrollment of graduate work arrangements with companies in addition t o General Electric,
in electrical engineering (see Table 11). and the program continues down into thepresent.
A careful examination of Table I1 shows that something ob- Although successful from every point of view, the M.I.T.
viously happened to M.1.T.k master’s degree program in 1922. type of cooperative course terminating with the master’s de-
The “event” was the graduation of the T i t class completing gree was not copied by other institutions. The reasons are not
1404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, SEPTEMBER 1976

clear, but perhaps lie in the fact that General Electric under larly the growing importance of the vacuum tube, gave oppor-
Elihu Thomson’s influence took a special interest in this par- tunitiesfor research that were particularlysuitablefor aca-
ticular program. Cooperative programs elsewhere developed in demic work. Broadcasting was coming up over the horizon,
the pattern originated by Herman Schneider at the University long-distance telephony was increasingly important in com-
of Cincinnati in 1906, which provided a five-year undergradu- munication,public address systems werein common use,
ate program leading to a terminal bachelor’s degree. talking pictures had arrived, etc. This led to opportunities for
Although graduate study before 1942 normally meant study new kinds of research, and in addition made knowledge of
for the M.S. degree, an interest in doctoral study began to de- fundamentals as important as practical experience. Even then
velop during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Thedoctoralstudents it took time to change academia; it was not until after World
were few in number, but those institutionsthat had successful War I1 that a substantial fraction of the electrical engineering
master’s programs began to accommodate the exceptionally teachers were regularly engaged in research.
bright and ambitious student who wanted a better foundation The situation with respect to electrical engineering research
in mathematics and fundamental sciences than was provided on the campus in the mid-1920’s is indicated by a survey that
for in the bachelor’s and master’s programs, and who wished the author carried out in 1927.‘ This study showed that in
to obtain research experience. The number of such individuals the six-year period 1920-1925 inclusive, there was an average
was not large, as illustrated by Table 11, but it nevertheless was of nine technical papers of college origin per year appearing in
a fairly steady trickle that slowly expanded with the years. It the AIEE Transactions. Thisrepresented virtually thetotal
will be noted that California Institute of Technology was the research output of the nation’s teachers of electrical engineer-
first institution inTable 11.to place emphasis on doctoral stud- ing, and of theirstudents, that was deemedof more than
ies in electricalengineering. temporary value.8 Approximately sevenof these nine papers
The typical electrical engineering teacher of the early post- originated in five institutions; the remaining 100 or more de-
World War I period combined a bachelor’s degree in electrical partments of electrical engineering together produced a total
engineering with some practical experience. Very few held a of less than two publicationsper year during this period.
master’s degree, and almost none had a doctorate in engineer- A similar analysis of the Proceedings of the IRE for thesame
ing earned at a U.S. institution. As an illustration, when the period showed less than five publications per year of college
author was a graduate student at M.I.T. in 1922-1924, only origin, and of these over half were credited to physics depart-
one member of the electrical engineering faculty of that insti- mentsratherthanelectrical engineering departments. Only
tution possessed an earned doctor’sdegree, and only several of one electrical engineering department in the countryhad more
those with the rank of Assistant Professor or higher held a than two papers published in the Proceedings of the IRE dur-
master’sdegree. Of those whoheld the rank of Instructor ing the six-year period.
(equivalent to today’s Assistant Professor), over half held no If one considered that a conege professor was a productive
degree beyond the bachelor’s.With the passageof time an research worker if he and his students together turned out one
increasing number of young Instructors began t o work toward technical paper of professional quality every two years, it is
the doctorate. Nevertheless, the number of electrical engineer- found that in the six-year study period there were a total of
ing teachers with doctor’s degrees was very limited until after eight productive research workers on the faculties of the elec-
World War 11. trical engineering departmentsin the entire U.S., and that
these eight men and their students produced over half of the
ACADEMICRESEARCH BEFOREWORLD WAR II university research inelectrical engineering! Three of these
were on thefaculty ofM.I.T., while theother fivewere
Very little research in electrical engineering was performed distributed one t o a school. Only one of the eight published
on campuses during the earlier days of electrical engineering anything in theProceedings of the IRE.
education. The reasons for this are several: 1) this was a prac- This may sound almost incredible by present standards, but
tical age in which acquisition of practical experience was re- it W s
t the fact thatas of the early 1920’s teachers taught
garded as more important thanseeking new knowledge, 2) pro- the existing art of electrical engineering, but did very little to
fessors werein general not trained in the basic science of extend that art. It was a situation that offered a marvelous
electricity, but rather in the applications of electricity, 3) the opportunityforanambitiousyoungfaculty member with
“publishor perish” syndrome had notyet been invented, good training to make a showing. All he needed to do was to
4) universities had a minimum of laboratory facilities and write a couple of papers that got published, and hebecame an
money for the support of research, 5) interest was heavily on important man inhis EE department.
electrical power, and this involved availability of machines of
substantial size and cost, 6) there was a lack of graduate stu- POST-WORLDWAR II
dents to collaborate and help with the research.6 WorldWarI1 made profound changes in the education of
With the passageof time the research situation slowly im- electrical engineers. The war developments such as radar,
proved. Islands of real research developed here and there microwaves, pulse technology, sophisticated control systems,
around individual professors. Specialized laboratories dealing electronic navigation systems, new types of electronic instru-
with high voltage were established at several institutions and mentation,etc.,added dimensions to theelectrical(elec-
collaborated with power companies on electrical power trans- tronics) industry that did not die out at the end of the war,
mission problems. The developments in communication but rather continued as permanent additions to the field of
around the time of World War I and later, including particu-
7F. E. Terman, ‘The electrical engineering research situation in
6Students receiving the bachelor’s degree were commonly required to Ametican universities,” Science, vol. LXV. pp. 385-388,Apr. 22.1927.
carry through a project and write a r e p o f i , but while this gave students ‘At thk time in the history of electrical engineering,the AIEE Zhm-
v8lnabb ”handson” experience, it was seldom true research that repre- actions and the procecdinds of the IRE were the only technical pumala
sented an addition toknowledge. having substantial professional standing.
TERMAN: HISTORY OF E.E. EDUCATION 1405

electricity. Furthermore, the technological impetus generated PhD

by the war continued into the post-war period, and led to such
post-war developments as thetransistor,integratedcircuits,
magnetic recording,computers and calculators, guided mis-
siles, communicationsatellites,thelaser,etc. Television dis-
placed radio as the most popular medium of mass entertain-
ment, to be followed by color television.
Theresult was avirtualexplosion of the electrical(elec-
tronic)industry.
Innumerable new products and devices
foundareadyreception in the marketplace, and newcom-
panies sprangup,first by thehundreds and then by the lo00
thousands. Moreover, the tightpatentmonopolythat had
been maintained in theelectronicsindustrythrough the
1920’s and 1930’s byRCA, General Electric, Westinghouse,
etc., was loosened by the war developments,and the field
500
became essentially open to all comers on reasonable terms.
The exciting developments of the war that triggered off the
new electronics werelargely the work of physicists tempo-
rarily turned engineers. The typical electrical engineer trained
in the pre-World War I1 pattern did not know sufficient funda- 1 9 a 6 3 0 32 36 4048 52 56 60 64 68 1972

mental science and mathematics and did not possess the re- Fig. 1. Graduate degrees awarded in electrical engineering 1926-1974.
search seasoning to contribute in the creative electrical (elec- Data for the pre-World War I1 years are fragmentary and in some
case8 estimated, but of the correct order of magnitude.
tronic)developments of
World War 11. Engineers were
relegated to working out design details, and t o following the
new equipment through production, test, and installation, but strong general technical background, most institutions either
as agroupplayedonlyasecondary role in the process of made the thesisoptionalor didaway withitentirely.The
generating new ideas. time thereby released was filed with additional course work
Those electrical engineering educators who participated in atgraduateor advanced undergraduate level, selected to
the war developments recognized this situation, and upon broaden and strengthen the student’s technical and scientific
returning to theirinstitutionsattheend of the war, were background.
forcesfor upgrading theeducation of electrical engineers. The doctor’s degree then became the degree sought by those
Thetimes were favorable for doing this. War veterans were who wanted training superior to that of their many classmates
anxious to obtain systematic training in the war-time develop- working for the master’s degree, or who planned a careerof re-
ments. Young men who had worked on war projects were search in industry, or whose goal was to be a faculty member
available as teachers, and were not only qualified to teach the at an educational institutionthat had a graduateprogram.
new subject matter, but were eager to do so. A scattering of Under these new conditions,faculty-student research be-
middle-aged faculty members who had participated in the war came concentrated at the doctoral level, where the studenthad
activities wereavailable to provide leadership for change. the time to perform a really important piece of research, par-
Finally, but by no means last,very shortly after the end of the ticularly in view of the fact that before embarking on his dis-
war the government began to support basic research at uni- sertation the doctoral student would already possess the back-
versities in these new areas of electronics. ground provided by the MS course work. This greatly raised
As a result of these influences the undergraduate electrical the levelof faculty-student research being performed on
engineering curriculum began gradually but steadily t o increase campus.
the emphasis on the fundamental science aspects of electrical As shown in Fig. 1, the number of master’s and doctor’s de-
engineering, particularly physics andmathematics. This was grees grew steadily after the war until by the early 1970’s ap-
achieved by reducing the time devoted t o teaching engineering proximately a third of the bachelor’s degree students went on
practice,cuttingoutsubjectsthat wereof littleconcern to toa master’sdegree and approximately 8 percent followed
electrical engineers such as surveying, by reducing the intensity their studies through to the doctor’s degree. In contrast, in
of theconcentrationon 6GHz power, and byrevising the the early post-war period approximately10percent of the
content of many courses. bachelor’s degree recipients carried their studies to a master’s
Master’s programs in electrical engineering were developed as degree, and only a few percent followed through to the doc-
direct extensions of the revised bachelor’s program, thus mak- torate. At the same time, the academic curricula in electrical
ing five years of coordinated training available to turn out a engineering, including the bachelor’s degree program, became
well-rounded engineer. The circumstances caused the master’s steadily both stronger and broader, and by pre-war standards
degree gradually to become the degree goal ofthe student who more difficult.
desired to follow a career in technical electrical engineering, The availability of government research grants and contracts
and who sought training that would enable him to work with beginning immediately after the end of World War I1 has had a
new ideas that kept coming into electrical engineering. major impact on electrical engineering education. Such funds
This new role of the master’s degree was accompanied by a have provided the creative faculty man with the resources he
change in the character of the associated curriculum. Once needs to work effectively on sophisticated problems of con-
the master’s degree almost invariably required a thesis project temporary importance in the real world. They also have en-
that typicallyoccupiedone-thirdor more of the student’s abled him to build up research teams of bright and eager
time. However,when the objective became to provide a graduatestudents, who aresupportedthroughemployment
1406 SEPTEMBER PROCEEDINGS OF THE
IEEE, 1976

as part-time research assistants but who simultaneously are back with a few thousand dollars worth of consulting assis-
also trainees. Research funds likewise have made it possible tance, often takenout partially in stock.
for the faculty man to work on his research full time during The importance of today’s electrical engineering depart-
the summer, whilereceiving summer pay from his research ments to high technologyindustryresults largely from the
project; this increases both his scholarly productivity and his high level of training of electrical engineering faculty members,
income. combined with the opportunities facultyhave to sharpen their
Thus government sponsored research makes it possible for expertise through well-financed research projects which often
both faculty and students to perform at a higher level than generate useful ideas. For example, at Stanford the govem-
would otherwise be possible, with corresponding effecton the ment sponsored research program in electrical engineerhg in
intellectual tone of the electrical engineering department. In 1974-1975accountedforanexpenditure of approximately
addition, sponsored research supports graduate students while $6 million. This is to be compared with an expenditure on
simultaneously giving them a unique and valuable educational electrical engineering research of less than $20 000 per year
experience. in the era before World War 11, about one-fourth of which was
The combined effect of curriculum change, more students in electronics. No wonder today’s electrical engineering fac-
carrying on graduate work, and the existence in the university ulty operate at a high level and tum out doctorate students
laboratories of electrical engineering research of the highest who are impressively competent.
caliber with participation in this research by doctoral, mas- The oldest universityindustrial complex of importance ex-
ter’s, and sometimes evenbachelor‘sdegree candidates, has ists in New England, and is built around M.I.T. and Harvard.
completely changed both thecharacter and intellectuallevel of Many of the old-line manufacturing companies in the vicinity
electrical engineering on the campus. This is illustrated by a of Boston have a history that clearly shows important inputs
1969 meeting of the corporate associates of the American In- of both personnel and ideas from these institutions. However,
stitute of Physics at which it was postulated: “Engineers now the most spectacularuniversityindustrialdevelopment is
learn enough basic science and mathematics so that they can probably that which has grown up on the San Francisco Penin-
adequately fill positions once occupied only by physicists.” sula around Stanford since the end ofWorldWar 11. In this
Of the corporate associates present, 82 percent agreed with case the interactions are quite clear, since they have come into
this ~ t a t e m e n t . ~It is clear that should anothernational being in a relatively short time and most of the original actors
emergency such as Pearl Harbor occur, electrical engineers are still alive. Here the contributions that electrical engineer-
will not be found unequal to the challenge as was the case in ing at Stanford has made to theindustrialcommunity are
1941. quite evident, as are the contributions both intellectual and
The last twenty-five years have seen increasing interactions financial that the contiguous industry has made to the devel-
develop between universities with strong engineering and in- opment of astrongelectrical engineering department at
dustry in geographical proximity to such universities, particu- Stanford.”
larly in electronics. This is not an entirely new phenomenon, The best electrical engineering departments of today possess
as opportunities have traditionally existed for young electrical a sophistication and a diversity that gives them much in com-
engineers to improve their competence through enrolling in mon with a high technology industrial complex. Each partner
night c o w s at nearby institutions and for professorsto gain in this anangement benefits from the presence of the other.
supplementaryincomethrough consulting. Thedifference As a result, one finds that high technology electronic industry
today is the magnitude of the activity, and the levels at which tends to be increasingly associated geographically with educa-
the interactions takeplace. tional activities.
The growing importance of the master’s degree has resulted If one looks at the presentworld broadly, it is apparent that
in the widespread development of part-time degree programs electricity in its various manifestations is becoming increas-
structured to suit engineers who have full-time jobs. Various inglyinvolved in almost every aspect of our technological
arrangements are used, including courses in the evening, civilization and of our daily lives. Today’s electrical engineer
courses offered in the early morning, and courses made avail- is being trained in ways that enable him to capitalize on this
able during working hours through live television or videotape. situation, with the result he can choose between many inter-
Today practically every center of industrial activity has avail- esting alternative waysof spending his life. Furthermore,
able some arrangement by which a master’s degree in various thesealternativescharacteristicallyinteract with other disci-
fields of engineering can be earned by employed engineers. plines. Electrical engineers today are involved not only with
Faculty interaction with industryhas also progressed beyond such traditional electrical activities as telephony, telegraphy,
individual consulting. There are today a number of electrical “wireless,” and the generation and distribution of electrical
engineering faculty members aroundthecountry who have power, but such matters as new sources of energy, optics as
helped found successful firms, and in somecases have givenup represented by the opportunities made possible by. fiber optics
teaching to become industrial executives. Furthermore, it is and by the laser, the mysterious properties of semiconducting
commonplace for high technology companies to have one or materials, medical electronics,computers(fromgiant com-
more faculty members on their Boards of Directors. In some puters to pocketcalculators), pulseand digital techniques,
cases, faculty members haveeven helped start companies in instruments of almost unbelievable complexity that not only
the role of advisors and/or investors; today thereare a number calculatethe answers, but even plottheresults,etc.,etc.,
of campuses on which there are one or more unobtrusive elec- seemingly without limit.
trical engineering professors andex-professors who are million- Where this will lead is difficult to see, but one thing is cer-
aires as a resultof knowing which of their graduate studentsto tain. This is that electrical engineering is not going to stopad-
vancing. Educators will have to continue to run fast in order
9See A. A. Strassenburg. “Supply and demand for physi-
ciatS,”Phy&8 TO~~Y,V O pp.
23, ~ . 23-28, Av. 1970. 10See Norberg paper, this hue.
 VOL. IEEE,OF THE
PROCEEDINGS 64, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER
1407 1976

to keep even with their field of specialization, and practicing nator of Science and Technology Project, University of Cali-
engineers are. going to have to spend a certain fraction of their fornia (Berkeley), Karl Wildes,Massachusetts Instituteof
time studying the new knowledge that is being generated by Technology, John R. Pierce, California Institute of Tech-
our research oriented academic and industrial laboratories if nology, and Donald F. Berth, Cornell University.
they are not to become technologically obsolete as they grow
older. And never again will electrical engineering have to turn REFERENCES
to men trained in other scientific andtechnical disciplines [ 1 ] K. L. Wildes,“Electricalengineeringat the Massachusetts Insti-
when there is important work to be done in electrical engi- tute o f Technology,” unpublished manuscript,1971.
[2] H. C. Parser, The Electrical Manufacturers: 1675-1900. Cam-
neering. Finally, the electrical industryand electrical engi- bridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1953.
neering education is no longer focussed primarily on electrical [ 3 ] F. E.Terman, ‘%Electrical engineers are going back to science!”
ROC. IRE,vOl. 50, pp. 955-956, May 1962.
energy of sinusoidal wave form at 60 k 0.0000 Hz. [ 4 ] -, “Electrical
engineering education-1912 w. 1962,” IRE
Student Quart.,May 1962.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [SI -, “The development of an engineeringprogram,” Eng. E d u a -
tion, vol. 59, pp. 1053-1055, May 1968.
Acknowledgment is made to the following persons for help- [a] B. Berelson, GraduateEducation in the United States. New
ful discussions and/or information: Arthur Norberg, Coordi- York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.

Early Impacts of Communications on Military

Doctrine
PAUL W. CLARK

Abatrrrct-A”? r8diotelephmy was one of the most importmt, INTRODUCTION

yet least discus&
. devebpmenta
. of WorldWar I. It evolved from a
suaxssful o q m z a o n of science and enginemhg created by Chief
Signrl Ofbcer of the Amy, Major Genenl George Owen Squier. Under
theledershipofsuchedynotrMesmtbehistoPyofelectricileagI-
needug as John J. Cuty, FrmL B. Jewett, and Nugent Et 5g hetr the
important,
A
IRBORNERADIOTELEPHONYwasone
yet least discussed,
of the most
developments of World
War I. To later airmenand scholars, it represented an
radiotelephone lmnsformed the rirplrne from 8 weapon of mdividud evolution in communications so natural and so obvious that
mentions of its originare rare in the literature of military
It made it poaeie to qply the estabkd~edmititary principle of coll-
centrrtion of m m to leriil combat history. The apparent naturalness of its introduction to com-
This impatmt irmovation came from technicoiotricer&-phnarily bat aircraft has obscured the beginnings of this important in-
fromthosewhohadavidoaofrirarftoperathgmcollcert. Thew novation, which resulted in the “voice-commanded squadron.”
t e n t L l o f m i l i t u y . i r c r P f t t h u s d e d d i f f d m P t e d l y f r o m t h e ChiefSignal Officer, GeorgeOwen Squier, believed that the
p o p u l n i m r g e o f t h e ~ t e r p i l o t ~ i n i n d i v i d u r l c o m b r t , w h i c hdecision of victory or defeat hung upon the successful organi-
sbuedmuchincommonwiththepoprrlrrviewofcwdryofEicenm
the nineteenth centuy. zation ofscienceandengineering. A-Ph.D. in electrical engi-
neering from theJohns Hopkins in 1893 (the first earned
Tmksandairpl8nesPeoftentegnded.sthemarts@ificmtwe,
ponsforgedmWaLlWar1. Itmustberddedthattheyathinedtheir Ph.D. inthe Army) a prolific inventor best knownfor his
f u l l ~ ~ w e r p o n s ~ a f t e r b e i n g e q u i p p e d w i t h r d i o t d eaccomplishments- in multiplex telephony-i.e., the simultaneous
Ph - sending of more than one message over a single line (the basis
of all modem communications systems), and a sponsor of
Manuscript received October 20, 1975;revised April 20, 1976. early aviation, Squier enjoyed an international reputation as
The author is withthe DefenseAttache Office, Embassy of the soldier-scientist. After the war he expressed his conviction
United States of America, 2 4 Growernor Square, London W1A lAE,
Endand. that “military supremacy must be looked for primarily in the