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121 Raky, Anton
SUBJECT AREA: Mining and extraction technology[br]b. 5 January 1868 Seelenberg, Taunus, Germanyd. 22 August 1943 Berlin, Germany[br]German inventor of rapid percussion drilling, entrepreneur in the exploration business.[br]While apprenticed at the drilling company of E. Przibilla, Raky already called attention by his reflections towards developing drilling methods and improving tools. Working as a drilling engineer in Alsace, he was extraordinarily successful in applying an entire new hydraulic boring system in which the rod was directly connected to the chisel. This apparatus, driven by steam, allowed extremely rapid percussions with very low lift.With some improvements, his boring rig drilled deep holes at high speed and at least doubled the efficiency of the methods hitherto used. His machine, which was also more reliable, was secured by a patent in 1895. With borrowed capital, he founded the Internationale Bohrgesellschaft in Strasbourg in the same year, and he began a career in the international exploration business that was unequalled as well as breathtaking. Until 1907 the total depth of the drillings carried out by the company was 1,000 km.Raky's rapid drilling was unrivalled and predominant until improved rotary drilling took over. His commercial sense in exploiting the technical advantages of his invention by combining drilling with producing the devices in his own factory at Erkelenz, which later became the headquarters of the company, and in speculating on the concessions for the explored deposits made him by far superior to all of his competitors, who were provoked into contests which they generally lost. His flourishing company carried out drilling in many parts of the world; he became the initiator of the Romanian oil industry and his extraordinary activities in exploring potash and coal deposits in different parts of Germany, especially in the Ruhr district, provoked the government in 1905 into stopping granting claims to private companies. Two years later, he was forced to withdraw from his holding company because of his restless and eccentric character. He turned to Russia and, during the First World War, he was responsible for the reconstruction of the destroyed Romanian oilfields. Thereafter, partly financed by mining companies, he continued explorations in several European countries, and in Germany he was pioneering again with exploring oilfields, iron ore and lignite deposits which later grew in economic value. Similar to Glenck a generation before, he was a daring entrepreneur who took many risks and opened new avenues of exploration, and he was constantly having to cope with a weak financial position, selling concessions and shares, most of them to Preussag and Wintershall; however, this could not prevent his business from collapse in 1932. He finally gave up drilling in 1936 and died a poor man.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsDr-Ing. (Hon.) Bergakademie Clausthal 1921.Further ReadingG.P.R.Martin, 1967, "Hundert Jahre Anton Raky", Erdöl-Erdgas-Zeitschrift, 83:416–24 (a detailed description).D.Hoffmann, 1959, 150 Jahre Tiefbohrungen in Deutschland, Vienna and Hamburg: 32– 4 (an evaluation of his technologial developments).WK -
122 Cognitive Science
The basic idea of cognitive science is that intelligent beings are semantic engines-in other words, automatic formal systems with interpretations under which they consistently make sense.... [P]eople and intelligent computers turn out to be merely different manifestations of the same underlying phenomenon. (Haugeland, 1981b, p. 31)2) Experimental Psychology, Theoretical Linguistics, and Computational Simulation of Cognitive Processes Are All Components of Cognitive ScienceI went away from the Symposium with a strong conviction, more intuitive than rational, that human experimental psychology, theoretical linguistics, and computer simulation of cognitive processes were all pieces of a larger whole, and that the future would see progressive elaboration and coordination of their shared concerns.... I have been working toward a cognitive science for about twenty years beginning before I knew what to call it. (G. A. Miller, 1979, p. 9)Cognitive Science studies the nature of cognition in human beings, other animals, and inanimate machines (if such a thing is possible). While computers are helpful within cognitive science, they are not essential to its being. A science of cognition could still be pursued even without these machines.Computer Science studies various kinds of problems and the use of computers to solve them, without concern for the means by which we humans might otherwise resolve them. There could be no computer science if there were no machines of this kind, because they are indispensable to its being. Artificial Intelligence is a special branch of computer science that investigates the extent to which the mental powers of human beings can be captured by means of machines.There could be cognitive science without artificial intelligence but there could be no artificial intelligence without cognitive science. One final caveat: In the case of an emerging new discipline such as cognitive science there is an almost irresistible temptation to identify the discipline itself (as a field of inquiry) with one of the theories that inspired it (such as the computational conception...). This, however, is a mistake. The field of inquiry (or "domain") stands to specific theories as questions stand to possible answers. The computational conception should properly be viewed as a research program in cognitive science, where "research programs" are answers that continue to attract followers. (Fetzer, 1996, pp. xvi-xvii)What is the nature of knowledge and how is this knowledge used? These questions lie at the core of both psychology and artificial intelligence.The psychologist who studies "knowledge systems" wants to know how concepts are structured in the human mind, how such concepts develop, and how they are used in understanding and behavior. The artificial intelligence researcher wants to know how to program a computer so that it can understand and interact with the outside world. The two orientations intersect when the psychologist and the computer scientist agree that the best way to approach the problem of building an intelligent machine is to emulate the human conceptual mechanisms that deal with language.... The name "cognitive science" has been used to refer to this convergence of interests in psychology and artificial intelligence....This working partnership in "cognitive science" does not mean that psychologists and computer scientists are developing a single comprehensive theory in which people are no different from machines. Psychology and artificial intelligence have many points of difference in methods and goals.... We simply want to work on an important area of overlapping interest, namely a theory of knowledge systems. As it turns out, this overlap is substantial. For both people and machines, each in their own way, there is a serious problem in common of making sense out of what they hear, see, or are told about the world. The conceptual apparatus necessary to perform even a partial feat of understanding is formidable and fascinating. (Schank & Abelson, 1977, pp. 1-2)Within the last dozen years a general change in scientific outlook has occurred, consonant with the point of view represented here. One can date the change roughly from 1956: in psychology, by the appearance of Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin's Study of Thinking and George Miller's "The Magical Number Seven"; in linguistics, by Noam Chomsky's "Three Models of Language"; and in computer science, by our own paper on the Logic Theory Machine. (Newell & Simon, 1972, p. 4)Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science > Cognitive Science
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123 Voigt, Paul Gustavus Adolphus Helmuth
[br]b. 9 December 1901 Forest Hill, London, Englandd. 9 February 1981 Brighton, Ontario, Canada[br]English/Canadian electronics engineer, developer of electromechanical recording and reproductions systems, amplifiers and loudspeakers.[br]He received his education at Dulwich College and in 1922 graduated with a BSc from University College, London. He had an early interest in the application of valve amplifiers, and after graduating he was employed by J.E.Hough, Edison Bell Works, to develop a line of radio-receiving equipment. However, he became interested in the mechanical (and later electrical) side of recording and from 1925 developed principles and equipment. In particular he developed capacitor microphones, not only for in-house work but also commercially, until the mid-1930s. The Edison Bell company did not survive the Depression and closed in 1933. Voigt founded his own company, Voigt Patents Ltd, concentrating on loudspeakers for cinemas and developing horn loudspeakers for domestic use. During the Second World War he continued to develop loudspeaker units and gramophone pick-ups, and in 1950 he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, but his company closed. Voigt taught electronics, and from 1960 to 1969 he was employed by the Radio Regulations Laboratory in Ottawa. After retirement he worked with theoretical cosmology and fundamental interactions.[br]BibliographyMost of Voigt's patents are concerned with improvements in the magnetic circuit in dynamic loudspeakers and centring devices for diaphragms. However, UK patent nos. 278,098, 404,037 and 447,749 may be regarded as particularly relevant. In 1940 Voigt contributed a remarkable paper on the principles of equalization in mechanical recording: "Getting the best from records, part 1—the recording characteristic", Wireless World (February): 141–4.Further ReadingPersonal accounts of experiences with Voigt may be found in "Paul Voigt's contribution to Audio", British Kinematography Sound and Television (October 1970): 316–27, which also includes a list of his patents.GB-NBiographical history of technology > Voigt, Paul Gustavus Adolphus Helmuth
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124 Alexanderson, Ernst Frederik Werner
[br]b. 25 January 1878 Uppsala, Swedend. ? May 1975 Schenectady, New York, USA[br]Swedish-American electrical engineer and prolific radio and television inventor responsible for developing a high-frequency alternator for generating radio waves.[br]After education in Sweden at the High School and University of Lund and the Royal Institution of Technology in Stockholm, Alexanderson took a postgraduate course at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Engineering College. In 1901 he began work for the Swedish C \& C Electric Company, joining the General Electric Company, Schenectady, New York, the following year. There, in 1906, together with Fessenden, he developed a series of high-power, high-frequency alternators, which had a dramatic effect on radio communications and resulted in the first real radio broadcast. His early interest in television led to working demonstrations in his own home in 1925 and at the General Electric laboratories in 1927, and to the first public demonstration of large-screen (7 ft (2.13 m) diagonal) projection TV in 1930. Another invention of significance was the "amplidyne", a sensitive manufacturing-control system subsequently used during the Second World War for controlling anti-aircraft guns. He also contributed to developments in electric propulsion and radio aerials.He retired from General Electric in 1948, but continued television research as a consultant for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), filing his 321st patent in 1955.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsInstitution of Radio Engineers Medal of Honour 1919. President, IERE 1921. Edison Medal 1944.BibliographyPublications relating to his work in the early days of radio include: "Magnetic properties of iron at frequencies up to 200,000 cycles", Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (1911) 30: 2,443."Transatlantic radio communication", Transactions of the American Institute of ElectricalEngineers (1919) 38:1,269.The amplidyne is described in E.Alexanderson, M.Edwards and K.Boura, 1940, "Dynamo-electric amplifier for power control", Transactions of the AmericanInstitution of Electrical Engineers 59:937.Further ReadingE.Hawkes, 1927, Pioneers of Wireless, Methuen (provides an account of Alexanderson's work on radio).J.H.Udelson, 1982, The Great Television Race: A History of the American Television Industry 1925–1941, University of Alabama Press (provides further details of his contribution to the development of television).KFBiographical history of technology > Alexanderson, Ernst Frederik Werner
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125 Barnack, Oskar
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 1879 Berlin, Germanyd. January 1936 Wetzlar, Germany[br]German camera designer who conceived the first Leica camera and many subsequent models.[br]Oskar Barnack was an optical engineer, introspective and in poor health, when in 1910 he was invited through the good offices of his friend the mechanical engineer Emil Mechau, who worked for Ernst Leitz, to join the company at Wetzlar to work on research into microscope design. He was engaged after a week's trial, and on 2 January 1911 he was put in charge of microscope research. He was an enthusiastic photographer, but excursions with his large and heavy plate camera equipment taxed his strength. In 1912, Mechau was working on a revolutionary film projector design and needed film to test it. Barnack suggested that it was not necessary to buy an expensive commercial machine— why not make one? Leitz agreed, and Barnack constructed a 35 mm movie camera, which he used to cover events in and around Wetzlar.The exposure problems he encountered with the variable sensitivity of the cine film led him to consider the design of a still camera in which short lengths of film could be tested before shooting—a kind of exposure-meter camera. Dissatisfied with the poor picture quality of his first model, which took the standard cine frame of 18×24 mm, he built a new model in which the frame size was doubled to 36×24 mm. It used a simple focal-plane shutter adjustable to 1/500 of a second, and a Zeiss Milar lens of 42 mm focal length. This is what is now known as the UR-Leica. Using his new camera, 1/250 of the weight of his plate equipment, Barnack made many photographs around Wetzlar, giving postcard-sized prints of good quality.Ernst Leitz Junior was lent the camera for his trip in June 1914 to America, where he was urged to put it into production. Visiting George Eastman in Rochester, Leitz passed on Barnack's requests for film of finer grain and better quality. The First World War put an end to the chances of developing the design at that time. As Germany emerged from the postwar chaos, Leitz Junior, then in charge of the firm, took Barnack off microscope work to design prototypes for a commercial model. Leitz's Chief Optician, Max Berek, designed a new lens, the f3.5 Elmax, for the new camera. They settled on the name Leica, and the first production models went on show at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925. By the end of the year, 1,000 cameras had been shipped, despite costing about two months' good wages.The Leica camera established 35 mm still photography as a practical proposition, and film manufacturers began to create the special fine-grain films that Barnack had longed for. He continued to improve the design, and a succession of new Leica models appeared with new features, such as interchangeable lenses, coupled range-finders, 250 exposures. By the time of his sudden death in 1936, Barnack's life's work had forever transformed the nature of photography.[br]Further ReadingJ.Borgé and G.Borgé, 1977, Prestige de la, photographie.BC -
126 Bosch, Carl
SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology[br]b. 27 August 1874 Cologne, Germanyd. 26 April 1940 Heidelberg, Germany[br]German industrial chemist who developed the industrial synthesis of ammonia.[br]Bosch spent a year as a metalworker before studying chemistry at Leipzig University, obtaining his doctorate in 1898. The following year, he entered Badische Soda-, Anilin Fabrik (BASF), the leading German manufacturer of dyestuflfs. Between 1902 and 1907 he spent much time investigating processes for nitrogen fixation. In 1908 Fritz Haber told BASF of his laboratory-scale synthesis of ammonia from its constituent elements, and in the following year Bosch was assigned to developing it to the industrial scale. Leading a large team of chemists and engineers, Bosch designed the massive pressure converter and other features of the process and was the first to use the water gas shift reaction to produce the large quantities of hydrogen that were required. By 1913 Bosch had completed the largest chemical engineering plant at BASF's works at Oppau, and soon it was producing 36,000 tons of ammonium sulphate a year. Bosch enlarged the Oppau plant and went on to construct a larger plant at Leuna.In 1914 Bosch was appointed a Director of BASF. At the end of the First World War he became Technical Adviser to the German delegation at the peace conference. During the 1920s BASF returned to its position of pre-eminence in high-pressure technology, thanks largely to Bosch's leadership. Although increasingly absorbed in administrative matters, Bosch was able to support the synthesis of methane and the hydrogenation of coal tar and lignite to make petrol. In 1925 BASF merged with other companies to form the giant IG Farbenindustrie AG, of which Bosch became Chairman of the Managing Board. His achievements received international recognition in 1931 when he was awarded, with F. Bergius, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for high-pressure synthesis.[br]Bibliography1932, Über die Entwicklung der chemischen Hochdruckindustrie bei der Aufbau der neuen Ammoniakindustrie.Further ReadingK.Holdermann, 1953, Carl Bosch, Leben und Werk.See also biographical memoir in Chemische Berichte 190 (1957), pp. xix–xxxix.LRD -
127 Crompton, Rookes Evelyn Bell
[br]b. 31 May 1845 near Thirsk, Yorkshire, Englandd. 15 February 1940 Azerley Chase, Ripon, Yorkshire, England[br]English electrical and transport engineer.[br]Crompton was the youngest son of a widely travelled diplomat who had retired to the country and become a Whig MP after the Reform Act of 1832. During the Crimean War Crompton's father was in Gibraltar as a commander in the militia. Young Crompton enrolled as a cadet and sailed to Sebastopol, visiting an older brother, and, although only 11 years old, he qualified for the Crimean Medal. Returning to England, he was sent to Harrow, where he showed an aptitude for engineering. In the holidays he made a steam road engine on his father's estate. On leaving school he was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade and spent four years in India, where he worked on a system of steam road haulage to replace bullock trains. Leaving the Army in 1875, Crompton bought a share in an agricultural and general engineering business in Chelmsford, intending to develop his interests in transport. He became involved in the newly developing technology of electric arc lighting and began importing electric lighting equipment made by Gramme in Paris. Crompton soon decided that he could manufacture better equipment himself, and the Chemlsford business was transformed into Crompton \& Co., electrical engineers. After lighting a number of markets and railway stations, Crompton won contracts for lighting the new Law Courts in London, in 1882, and the Ring Theatre in Vienna in 1883. Crompton's interests then broadened to include domestic electrical appliances, especially heating and cooking apparatus, which provided a daytime load when lighting was not required. In 1899 he went to South Africa with the Electrical Engineers Volunteer Corps, providing telegraphs and searchlights in the Boer War. He was appointed Engineer to the new Road Board in 1910, and during the First World War worked for the Government on engineering problems associated with munitions and tanks. He believed strongly in the value of engineering standards, and in 1906 became the first Secretary of the International Electrotechnical Commission.[br]Bibliography1928, Reminiscences.Further ReadingB.Bowers, 1969, R.E.B.Crompton. Pioneer Electrical Engineer, London: Science Museum.BBBiographical history of technology > Crompton, Rookes Evelyn Bell
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128 Gibson, R.O.
[br]fl. 1920s–30s[br]English chemist who, with E.O.Fawcett, discovered polythene.[br]Dr Gibson's work towards the discovery of polythene had its origin in a visit in 1925 to Dr A. Michels of Amsterdam University; the latter had made major advances in techniques for studying chemical reactions at very high pressures. After working with Michels for a time, in 1926 Gibson joined Brunner Mond, one of the companies that went on to form the chemical giant Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). The company supported research into fundamental chemical research that had no immediate commercial application, including the field being cultivated by Michels and Gibson. In 1933 Gibson was joined by another ICI chemist, E.O.Fawcett, who had worked with W.H. Carothers in the USA on polymer chemistry. They were asked to study the effects of high pressure on various reaction systems, including a mixture of benzaldehyde and ethylene. Gibson's notebook for 27 March that year records that after a loss of pressure during which the benzaldehyde was blown out of the reaction tube, a waxy solid was observed in the tube. This is generally recognized as the first recorded observation of polythene. By the following June they had shown that the white, waxy solid was a fairly high molecular weight polymer of ethylene formed at a temperature of 443°K and a pressure of 2,000 bar. However, only small amounts of the material were produced and its significance was not immediately recognized. It was not until two years later that W.P.Perrin and others, also ICI chemists, restarted work on the polymer. They showed that it could be moulded, drawn into threads and cast into tough films. It was a good electrical insulator and almost inert chemically. A British patent for producing polythene was taken out in 1936, and after further development work a production plant began operating in September 1939, just as the Second World War was breaking out. Polythene had arrived in time to make a major contribution to the war effort, for it had the insulating properties required for newly developing work on radar. When peacetime uses became possible, polythene production surged ahead and became the major industry it is today, with a myriad uses in industry and in everyday life.[br]Bibliography1964, The Discovery of Polythene, Royal Institute of Chemistry Lecture Series 1, London.LRD
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