Talk by Prof. Wicks honors remarkable engineers

Frank Wicks, professor of mechanical engineering, spoke on "Some Remarkable Engineers and the Marvels They Created" at the Engineer's Week celebration by the Hudson Mohawk Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, hosted by Union on February 24. Wicks, a frequent contributor of engineering history articles to Mechanical Engineering, spoke about Union President Eliphalet Nott's invention of a revolutionary technique for burning newly available anthracite coal instead of wood used in Benjamin Franklin's stove. He also reviewed the work of other notable scientists and inventors with Union College and local connections including Joseph Henry, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison and Charles Steinmetz. He concluded with the futuristic possibilities of using computer transplants to repair damaged portions of the brain as described by Theodore Berger '71, the David Packard Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California, at the recent Founders Day convocation. More than 100 students, professors and professional engineers attended the dinner at College Park Hall.