Posted on Mar 11, 2005

Frank Wicks, professor of mechanical
engineering, spoke on “Some Remarkable Engineers and the Marvels They Created”
at the Engineer's Week celebration by the Hudson Mohawk Section of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, hosted by Union on February 24. Wicks, a
frequent contributor of engineering history articles to Mechanical Engineering, spoke about Union President Eliphalet
Nott's invention of a revolutionary technique for burning newly available
anthracite coal instead of wood used in Benjamin Franklin's stove. He also
reviewed the work of other notable scientists and inventors with Union College
and local connections including Joseph Henry, George Westinghouse, Thomas
Edison and Charles Steinmetz. He concluded with the futuristic possibilities of
using computer transplants to repair damaged portions of the brain as described
by Theodore Berger '71, the David Packard Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California, at the recent
Founders Day convocation. More than 100 students, professors and professional
engineers attended the dinner at College Park Hall.