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Catting Edge Necrologies
National Academy
of
. ~ · -
. ~ nglneerlng
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D. C. 1984
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National Academy Press ~ 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW ~ Washington, DC 20418
The National Academy of Engineering is a private organization established in 1964. It
shares in the responsibility given the National Academy of Sciences under a congressional
charter granted in 1863 to advise the federal government on questions of science and
technology. This collaboration is implemented through the National Research Council.
The National Academy of Engineering recognizes distinguished engineers, sponsors en-
gineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, and encourages education and re
search.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Cutting edge technologies
Papers of the Symposium on Cutting Edge
Technologies convened in 1983 by the National
Academy of Engineering.
1. High technology Congresses. I. National
Academy of Engineering. II. Symposium on Cutting
Edge Technologies (1983: Washington, D.C.)
T6.C88 1984 620 84-19007
ISBN 0-309-03489:2
Printed in the United States of America
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Symposium Steering Committee
Chairman
N. BRUCE HANNAY, Foreign Secretary, National Academy of
Engineering; Vice-President, Research and Patents, Bell
Laboratories (retired)
Members
RALPH E. GOMORY, Vice-President and Director of Research, IBM
Corporation
RALPH HARDY, Director, Life Sciences Division, E. I. du Pont de
Nemours & Co., Inc.
MILTON PIKARSKY, Director, Transportation Research, IIT
Research Institute
ALBERT R. C. WESTWOOD, Corporate Director, Research and
Development, Martin Marietta Corporation
. . .
adz
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Contents
Preface.
Introduction
Ralph E. Gomory
I. Computers of lye Future / ~
Ultra Large Scale Integration and Beyond
lames D. Meind!
The Evolution of Computer Systems. .
Herbert Schorr
Software and Unorthodox Architectures: Where Are We
Headed? .
Michael L. Dertouzos
Il. leg Frontiers in Biotechr~oJogy / 37
Introduction
Ralph Hardy
v
3
.. 21
27
39
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v!
Biochemical Engineering Solutions to Biotechnological
Problems
Charles L. Cooney
Biotechnology and Agricultural Research for Crop
Improvement .
Charles ]. Arntzen
Biotechnology for Health Care
]. Paul Burnett
CONTENTS
........ 42
... 52
IlI. Advances in Stractura/Materials / 77
Introduction 79
Albert R. C. Westwooc!
Rapid Solidification Technology
Bernard H. Kear
Exploring the Limits of Polymer Properties: Structural
Components From Rigid- and FIexible-Chain Polymers
Roger S. Porter
High-Technology Ceramics
Albert R. C. Westwood and Jan P. Skainy
Transportation Tecir~o~ogy / 133
....... 86
.. 109
. ll7
Introduction 135
Milton Pikarsky
Air Technology: The Transport Vehicle and Its
Development Environment .
John E. Steiner
Earth Walls. .
James K. Mitchell and James G. CoRin
.138
...... 161
Technological Opportunities and the Railroad Industry. . . 181
William ]. Harris, Jr.
Biographical Sketches 187
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Preface
-
Rapid change is occurring in many scientific, engineering, and tech-
nological fields. As the rate of change accelerates, specialists in partic-
ular fields find it more difficult to keep abreast of the increase in knowl-
edge and technique. It is even more difficult for scientists and engineers
to understand how developments outside their fields of specialty are
likely to affect what they do and how they do their work. The symposium
on Cutting Edge Technologies, convened by the National Academy of
Engineering in connection with its Annual Meeting in November 1983,
was organized to provide members of the Academy and a wider audience
interested in the present state of development of various cutting edge
technologies with an overview of the general trends taking place in a
number of fields.
In a symposium such as this, it was impossible to address the problems
of technological development in a comprehensive way, and hence a
limited number of technologies were identified for discussion, recog-
nizing that there are many others that could just as easily have been
candidate topics for a symposium. The topics selected range from those
that have been consistently in the forefront of national attention to those
that have had less exposure but are nonetheless central to the national
welfare and industrial competitiveness of the United States. The sym-
posium topics that were selected include those dealing with the com-
puters of the future and new frontiers in biotechnology two areas that
have been the center of much media as well as professional attention-
and those on advances in structural materials and transportation tech-
nology two vital areas that have received less public attention.
. .
V11
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V111
PREFACE
We hope that the papers in this volume can place in perspective the
present state of development of individual technologies and how they
are likely to evolve over the next several decades. If the individual and
collective effect of the papers also communicates the vitality of the
multiple streams of technological development taking place, then a ma-
jor goal of the symposium will have been achieved. Just as importantly,
however, the collection of papers in this volume foreshadows the chang-
ing technological environment that will embrace our society in the years
ahead.
ROBERT M. WHITE
President
National Academy of Engineering
