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This chapter evaluates the so-called ‘Chandlerian industries’ (many of which are also called ‘new industries’): chemical, pharmaceutical, oil, rubber, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automobile, transport equipment, and non-metallic mineral products. Some surprising results are found. In this sector, return on equity improved over the century, but holding return did not. Firms based in small countries outperformed their competitors in large ones. The two world wars showed little effect. Longevity was very high in oils and chemicals, while it turned out to be very volatile in mechanical engineering. In electrical engineering, the technological shift from power generation to telecommunications adversely affected company longevity. Oil companies generally were over-performers and companies in transport equipment generally under-performers. Oil companies also had the best capital turnover ratios. Concerning growth of assets, the leading branch changed in each benchmark year. The number of ‘Big’ and ‘Giant’ firms was quite limited.

William became a mature professional and family man in the 1890s. His two sons were born: William Lawrence (‘Willie’) in 1890 and Robert Charles (‘Bob’) in 1892. Lawrence remembered his early childhood with mixed feelings. William took up golf with success and introduced sporting analogies into his lectures. He facilitated increased science teaching in schools. His undergraduate courses were typically practical — for science, medical, and music students — and he introduced a new electrical engineering course. He became the public face of the university, popular with students and community alike because of his understanding but firm approach and outstanding lecturing ability. He alone could facilitate university discipline with unruly students. Gwendoline continued to enjoy painting, and her father was knighted.

This chapter presents an analysis of knowledge integration in project-based organizations. It conceptualizes the organization of the firm as a function of its capability to solve complex problems through knowledge integration. It is argued that the project-based organizational form (P-form) represents a specific permanent organizational configuration conducive for knowledge integration in the so-called Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) industries. The chapter presents a longitudinal analysis of market complexity, technological complexity, and organizational design in the evolution of a P-form corporation, namely Asea/ABB, over a period of more than fifty years. The chapter distinguishes four distinct project epochs during the studied period. These project epochs are characterized by increasing market complexity and technological complexity. Finally, the chapter discusses the influence of complexity and organizational design on project generation and execution, and elaborates on a number of salient characteristics of the P-form corporation.

This chapter focuses on the manufacturers' meetings concerning the formation of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The first meeting was held in May 1922 at the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), which led to the led to the long-term relation between BBC and the IEE. Six companies played a key role in the formation of the BBC. These were the Marconi Company, Metropolitan-Vickers, Western Electric Company, Radio Communications Company, General Electric Company, and the British Thomson-Houston Company.

This chapter presents brief biographical sketches of George Boole and Claude Shannon. George was born in Lincoln, a town in the north of England, on November 2, 1815. His father John, while simple tradesman (a cobbler), taught George geometry and trigonometry, subjects John had found of great aid in his optical studies. Boole was essentially self-taught, with a formal education that stopped at what today would be a junior in high school. Eventually he became a master mathematician (who succeeded in merging algebra with logic), one held in the highest esteem by talented, highly educated men who had graduated from Cambridge and Oxford. Claude was born on April 30, 1916, in Petoskey, Michigan. He enrolled at the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1936 with double bachelor's degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering. It was in a class there that he was introduced to Boole's algebra of logic.

Phillips travelled to Australia and spent some time walking and swagging the outback roads, hitching illegal rides on trains, and living in the outback communities where he managed to find a variety of jobs: labouring, building, running a movie theatre, fixing electrical equipment in mining communities, even crocodile‐hunting in the Northern Territory. He enrolled in a correspondence course in electrical engineering, and learned differential equations sheltering under a transformer at a gold mine. He then boarded a ship bound for Japan, got into trouble photographing troops, travelled across Korea and through Japanese-occupied Manchuria dodging the fighting. He travelled across the Stalinist Soviet Union, and through Western Europe which was re‐arming in preparation for war. Arriving in London he worked as an electrical engineer, and began his study of languages. With hostilities looming, he enlisted in the RAF and was trained in armaments.

This chapter deals with the contributions of industrial engineers to the design of computers. Industrial engineers are primarily concerned with the spatial and functional relations of the machine to its users and surrounding environment. They possess a wide range of expertise ranging from that of a computer scientist and electrical engineer to an ergonomist and architect. Noyes and his colleagues synchronized the combined data produced from human sciences, information sciences, and the technical engineering of electronics into one representational system. This system was capable of organizing man and computer into an organic and productive unit. Their project was then applied in the construction of the methodology for designing the interface, or the externals of the machine.

This chapter deals with the Logistic System of the Iraqi Armed Forces, that included several important staff and field directorates. It describes the organization and structure of the Logistic Division in the General Staff and its role and missions, the changes it went through during the wars, and its importance to support the forces during war and peace times. It deals with the field logistical directorates—the Supply and Transportation, Equipment, Administrative Corps, Military Works, Electrical Mechanical Engineering (EME) and others, as well as the rear logistic system—the Lines of Communication Area and the rear areas/military districts. It describes their background and history, organization and structure, missions and responsibilities, their training systems, their role in the wars, especially in the Iran-Iraq war, and the lessons learned from the different wars.

This chapter explores the ways in which the ether saw its popularity renewed by its link to the modern wireless technologies. With the creation of the BBC in 1922, wireless sets ceased to be obscure devices for military and commercial communication and became household goods to entertain the British middle classes. Wireless amateurs, electrical engineers, inventors and specialised physicists engaged in a cultural exchange among themselves and with the general public in order to explain and understand the mechanisms and possibilities of the new technology. This created a new arena for discussions on the existence of the ether at a time when highly esoteric physics (mainly relativity, but also quantum physics) had triggered a debate on its very existence. This chapter argues that radio broadcasting was instrumental for the concept of the ether to remain popular among wireless amateurs, engineers and the general public in the 1920s and early 1930s.

This chapter discusses Dr. Franz Maria Feldhaus’s national index of Source Research on the History of Technology and Industry Inc. that collects and meticulously archives every bit of fact on ordinary items such as a saw, a pencil, and a bathtub. His collection project aims to clarify the discrepancies and contradictions published in different books about the history of electrical engineering and technology. Critics praised the collection for its structured production arrangement, media-technological implementation and historiographical methodology, which followed the library-oriented principle of writing down all information on index cards in card-catalog format. The project’s method of collecting relied on the participation of different people. It asked them to send in clippings from local newspapers, from local historical journals, provided that the notes or articles somehow concern old machines and apparatuses, old engineering structures, or old technicians.

Spring began with protests against defense contractor General Electric’s campus recruiting, and after an RU rally students turned violent, breaking windows in the building housing recruiters. Crowds massed in Green Street and police cleared them, but at night crowds again broke windows on the quad. The next day trustees canceled a William Kunstler speech; angry students stormed Green Street, breaking windows in several stores. Governor Ogilvie called out 750 National Guardsmen, every one needed to control crowds on a third night of rioting. Only a minority of students turned violent, but frustration was high.