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I studied at MIT from 9/1950 to 1/1955 and received my bachelor and master degree in electrical engineering. However, this was pre-sputnik days where study of science and engineering, in particular system and control, has not received substantial government support. In need of money, I took a job in industry temporarily thinking about coming back to Ph.D study later on. At the time, there were two types of computers, the analog and the digital. In fact the analog type at that time was far more advanced and capable to perform more elaborate calculations particularly for systems involving dynamics. “Computer Science” was not even considered as a discipline. Anyhow, I took a job at the Bendix Aviation Corporation which at that time was an automobile and airplane parts supplier and one of the fortune 500 companies based in Detroit, Michigan. However, the company sense the coming of age of ELECTRONICS and set up a research lab next to its headquarters. My boss, E. Cal Johnson, was a MIT Ph.D also in the servomechanism and control area. The first thing he did was to order me to learn all about digital computers and further the art and science of numerically controlled machine tools, a nascent and emerging field at that time. It was quite an experience which gave me invaluable insight even when I followed an academic career later on. Anyway, four patents from three years of my work and one paper resulted. The effort was actually featured as an article in the major national magazine, LIFE. In cleaning house recently, I found the 63 year old photo below. By the way, transistor, and never mind integrated circuits, at that time is still a lab curiosity. The complete controller in the photo is made up via vacuum tube electronic circuits. Those were the days!
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