history

With the inventions of the transistor in 1948 and the Integrated Circuit in 1958, and the utilization of these major breakthroughs in the development of computers and other electronic devices, industry began to worry about and to design components and end-products that could survive the discharge of electrostatic discharges to chips, printed circuit boards, and final packaged-products.

Editor’s Note: Over the past months we’ve explored one engineer’s view of historical patterns and events that have set the landscape for today’s economic challenges. In this final installment, Mr. Kervill brings us into the present and concludes the series by summarizing his predictions for the future. Communication is so fast that it is not a factor in restricting today’s technology. Not only is the world flat, as described by Thomas Friedman, but it has only one time zone.

Editor’s Note: In Part 1 of this 3 part series (In Compliance January 2013), author Gregg Kervill explores trends and patterns throughout history that, in his opinion, have led us to the present day landscape of our economy, technology and the future of engineering. Here in Part 2, we look at the importance of rebalancing our economy to move toward innovation and advancement. We begin where we left off.

In this multi-part series, Gregg Kervill applies scientific methods to the practical realities of our existence. He analyzes America’s place in the world and takes us on a journey through history to find solutions to problems we have faced many time before.  In his quest to identify the problems and solutions facing the US (and countries facing similar economic delinquency), Gregg takes no prisoners and is not averse to killing the odd sacred cow.  He is a firm supporter of Isaac Asimov’s belief that: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’.’”

Unlike so many technologies in use today, horn antenna history actually started more than a hundred years ago. This short article introduces the reader to the history of horns from the early experiments of radio pioneers to the “horn boom” during the 1940s and 1950s. The article ends with the latest evolution of horn antennas.

The history of the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) is one that extends over 75 years. There have been papers written over the years on its history. The one that is used as the basis for this article was presented at the 2005 Zurich EMC Symposium. The title was “A History of the Evolution of EMC Regulatory Bodies and Standards”, written by the authors of this article [1]. Manfred provided the majority of the research on CISPR up to the time of the Zurich symposium and Don continued the history up to the present time. This article will then present a brief history of CISPR from its inception to the present time.