Engineering in Society (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 101-105
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From page 101... ...
What can be said, descriptively, is that the in-group at Langley, the so-called "NACA nuts," found the cultural dissonance created by his working there too great and Munk himself an unacceptable eccentric, this despite the fact that Munk was the best classical theorist ever to work at Langley. In cultural terms, the case appears to demonstrate that within engineering the attitudes and values of specific subcultures are frequently of greater importance than the more general values, honored by all engineers as well as others, of seeking reliable knowledge and looking for practical solutions.
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From page 102... ...
When this happens, the existing organization of work and the knowledge and skills employed are subject to reexamination, and the adaptations required to accommodate truly novel devices and procedures frequently create great stress within specific subcultures of engineering and great disruption in individual careers. The invention of the transistor and its introduction into electrical engineering was a case of this latter type.
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From page 103... ...
Thinking they could substitute transistors for existing vacuum tube rectifiers and amplifiers, they believed the new devices could be utilized without any fundamental reconceptualization of their design criteria.
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From page 104... ...
Although they still cost at least eight times more than comparable vacuum tubes, transistors found a market in miniaturized hearing aids. While this demand encouraged further developments in transistorized circuitry, the big push for new developments in electronics in the 1950s came, as it had during World War II, from the military.
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From page 105... ...
Harsh as this suggestion appears in human terms, it may simply reflect at the level of the engineering work force a pattern that is visible at the corporate level. Jordan Baruch has pointed out that not one of the major vacuum tube manufacturers succeeded in becoming a major supplier of solid-state devices, and Edward Constant has also noted that no airplarle engine company that built piston engines also built jet engines of its own accord.
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