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Re: engineers and scientists was [TCML] Wireless Transmission Theory

Jim, Ben, Ed, all
For what it is worth, I hold three separate and independent degrees, BS in Physics, MS in Information Science and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. My graduate work was done at the Illinois Institute of Technology which is primarily an engineering institution. From a true academic sense, I am a theorist and many of my significant works are theoretical, yet at time I needed to become practical and actually build (or at least design things for others to build) which is primarily engineering work. Having worked in High Energy Physics, I can assure anyone that many experimental physicist are excellent engineers, but not all. This seems reasonable, but does not at all imply they have a jaded thought process.
I had an opportunity to sit down with Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Marvin Minsky (to my surprise they were good friends). I got to chat with these two incredible scientists in a closed session for an hour. Professor Lederman being a Nobel laureate in Physics and a very practical man, particularly when he directed Fermi Lab and Professor Minsky from MIT whom some consider the father of artificial intelligence who has won many prestigious awards including the Turing Award. Both were friendly and as down to earth as you can get. I asked many questions about their philosophies and view points on science. I briefly discussed my web site that was competing with the Discovery Channel (Now in the hands of Dr. Shawn Carlson, a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and great person). The notion of closed or stubborn scientific views popped up in our discussion. But what we really concluded was that a few engineers as well as scientists lost sight of the difference between a hypothesis and a theory and more problematic the fringe areas that maintain a fuzzy set membership of .5 (the point of complete uncertainty) of what is real and not real refuse to distinguish between hypothesis and theory and typically place the burden of disproving their hypothesis on others ( an unfortunate false form of logic).
In short, yes there are indeed some close minded scientists and engineers, but the greater number of both maintain the belief that we are still trying to fully understand exactly how nature behaves and communicates. They welcome new theories for peer review, albeit reserve some hypothesis for discussion over beer and pizza and openly reject others as fortune telling. This has been my experience and to me, simply reflects a normal, quite human form of behavior.
BTW: As a theoretical scientist, I can TIG weld, run a lathe, mill , etc., or any wood working device. Don't confuse skills with philosophy! 
John W. G.

John W. Gudenas, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science
On Feb 9, 2008, at 11:47 PM, Ben McMillen wrote:


Jim, all,
As an engineer AND a scientist (currently a PhD candidate and the proud recipient of two degrees in engineering) I'd like to comment that engineers make the best scientists. Yes, we do to learn, but half the learning is the doing. Every opportunity is another chance to practice the 'doing' to get to the final goal of understanding. If you're doing it right, you're getting *both* for the price of one.. 

No idea if this makes any sense, but it's always worked for me..

Coiling In Pittsburgh
Ben McMillen


----- Original Message ----
From: Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 12:08:07 AM
Subject: Re: engineers and scientists was [TCML] Wireless Transmission Theory 


Ed
Phillips
wrote:



Hi
Bill,
Snip .............................Snip >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Snip 



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