Posted on Jan 28, 2000

Charles P. Steinmetz made the list of the top 10
engineers of the 20th century, coming in at number six in a poll of
members of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.

The results, published in the winter 2000 issue of The
Bent,
the society's magazine, came from a survey sent to 89,000
readers.

For the record, the list was topped by another
electrical wizard with a Schenectady connection – Thomas Edison. He was
followed in order by the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Wernher Von Braun,
William Shockley, Steinmetz, Lee deForest, George Goethals, Herbert Hoover
and Hyman Rickover.

Steinmetz (1865 to 1923) was head of electrical
engineering and physics at Union and chief engineer at GE. His name
appears on an engineering building. Each spring, the College holds the
Steinmetz Symposium, a showcase of student creative, scholarly and
research achievement.

Readers of the magazine also listed the top engineering
achievements of the century with the Apollo moon landing taking top
honors.

Steinmetz might have been pleased that his work made
possible a few of the other Top 10 achievements: the transistor,
television, the integrated circuit and communications satellites.