IEEE HISTORY MILESTONES: some proposals in progress

 in News 2019

In the IEEE UK and Ireland Section, there are proposals in progress for:

  1. Superconducting Magnets developed for MRI at Oxford Instruments, Abingdon, with active shielding to make the arrangement practicable for wide medical use
  2. The medical CAT scanner
  3. LEO. The worlds first digital computer for business use (designed and made by LYONS company to support their catering business (1951)

Associated with IEEE Region 1, the first successful transmission of a commercial radio broadcast (1925, March 14th) from London station 2LO, transmitted from Chelmsford to Belfast in Maine, USA.  If successful in getting approval, this would probably involve a plaque at each end.

In Hungary, there is a proposal in progress for the Budapest Metro line no 1 – the first underground electrical railway in continental Europe, still in operation.  There was many innovations associated with this:

  • it was first using the dig-and-cover tunnel technique – under a main road for 120 years
  • it served as a reference and standard for Boston, Paris and Berlin metros
  • it had a bidirectional motor carriage with two driver’s cabins
  • the boogie included the motor
  • of low floor height (“goose neck” chassis)
  • of low tunnel height, this structure gauge became standard for a long time
  • first application of Siemens traction system in underground metro
  • overlapping rail jointing for smooth gliding

In Germany (in collaboration with the UK and Ireland Section) a proposal to recoggnise Christian Huelsmeyer for the first invention of Radar has been approved and the unveiling ceremony is planned for October 2019 in Germany.  Note that the word Radar did not come into use until much later, during WW2.

In Sweden, the 40 year anniversary  of video compression, an invention associated with Linkoping University and KTH Stockholm

In Italy, plans for a Milestone for Ferrari’s Induction Motor and for the Giorgi System of Units

 

There are many other good topics for developing History Milestone Proposals around the Sections of IEEE Region 8

Tony Davies

2019 Feb 24th, update 2019 Aug 18ths