Edward Garboczi
Tag: Book Review
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We plug in the new TV, computer, toaster, or iron into a wall outlet and forge ahead with its use, powered by AC electricity. We connect our cell phones and tablets, powered by DC batteries, to a charger that is plugged into our home’s AC electrical system. Do you think that we take for granted abundant, cheap, and always available electricity? I think so, at least until there is a power outage after a major storm! The fact that we can take our electrical grid for granted was only achieved after many discoveries and inventions over the last 200 years. Some of the major players in this effort, like Michael Faraday and Thomas Edison, are well-known. Others, like Charles Proteus Steinmetz, are not – but should be.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz was born in Germany on the day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. Steinmetz emigrated to America in 1889, already educated as a mathematician and electrical engineer. He quickly became well-known for his innovative work in AC electricity for the then-new General Electric (GE) company. Steinmetz was both a theoretical engineer and a practical inventor, having over 200 patents to his name by the end of his life. And to this day, there are still many electrical engineering innovations in analysis named after him.
What is even more fascinating about his life is that he suffered from dwarfism, standing only four feet tall, and curvature of the spine, giving him a hunch-backed appearance. Therefore, all this wonderful electrical work, much of which helped form the backbone of our modern electrical grid, was accomplished while overcoming these handicaps. Charles Proteus Steinmetz: Wizard of Electricity by Erick Berry is a good elementary school introduction to the life of Steinmetz, while The Electrical Genius of Liberty Hall: Charles Proteus Steinmetz by Floyd Miller is longer and at a middle school level. These books not only give a better appreciation of what went into our modern mastery of and reliance on electricity, but show how physical handicaps can be overcome. Steinmetz never married but ended up adopting a young colleague of his, who with his wife and children moved into Steinmetz’s large house, providing this handicapped bachelor with an instant family, whom he cherished until his death in 1923.