Category Archives: Videos

ETC Program News, Uncategorized, Videos

New Videos For 2022

In the Fall of 2022 The Edison Tech Center based in Schenectady, New York continued its video production for the winter season.  The Edison celebrates its 15th year producing unique educational content on the history of technology from the people who built it.

Videos scheduled for release on our YouTube Channel include more from the Universe of Instrumentation series, some never before released lectures and an award winning historical documentary from the Wizards of Schenectady program.

Below is a list of what has been released, and planned releases in the next two months:

Discovery of the Solid State Laser: Lecture

From the archives, never before public video of one of the greatest innovators of General Electric in the post 1960 period, Robert N. Hall. “Bob” Hall as he was known around Schenectady was very articulate and creative, his talk at the Schenectady Public Library in 1990 is a real gem!  It covers his story of discovering the semiconductor laser while solid state technology was in its most exciting phase in its history.

Oscilloscope Cameras – Documenting Work:

How did engineers preserve test results for the future? During early physics and radio work engineers photographed the screen. Bill Kornrumpf, an electrical engineer describes how he and others used to document their EE work:

Oscilloscopes part III:

We plan on releasing our final video from the oscilloscope module soon. Part of the Universe of Instrumentation series – a series about the development of tools used by engineers. The overall evolution of technology in all of our lives is completely dependent on the quality of instrumentation, or ability to measure results.

Wizards of Schenectady: Guy Suits
Electric City Film Festival Winner

Leader of the GE Research Lab, physicist and manager Chauncy Guy Suits lead a successful life balancing work with hobbies such as seaplane flying, Adirondack 46er hiking, boomerang craft, expedition hunting and woodworking.  In an original Edison Tech Center documentary we interview important figures from General Electric who knew Dr. Suits. More on the Wizards of Schenectady Series >

Mystery Videos TBD:

We will release more lectures and interviews with engineers from interesting time periods to keep the flow of material going.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to stay current! >

Electronics, ETC Program News, Videos

Universe of Instrumention Unit 2 Production Begins

February marked the start of video production for part two of the Universe of Instrumentation – a program highlighting tools (instruments) used by electrical engineers.

Better measurement technology leads to better technology in general:

The Edison Tech Center’s learning program entitled Universe of Instrumentation was first started in 2015 with help from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. The program allows young people to learn about how we measure electricity, time, light energy and other basics.  These basics are the building blocks of all technology as better ways of measuring things leads to better technology. The program audience consists of tech-minded young people and features interviews with engineers as well as talks on historical instruments.

In alignment with the Edison Tech Center’s overall goal, the program promotes an understanding of the full continuum of electrical technology from the 1840s to today.

1940s oscilloscopes, 1980s computers (Atari) and 2020 cutting edge are joined to show the progression of measurement technology, and in Unit II we are focusing on time measurement.

Corporate and Government participation:

We’d like to thank the following corporations for allowing us access to experts in various fields:

  • Ball Aerospace
  • Seagate Technologies
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology

Time measurement in Unit II

For computers, phones, GPS and other technology we need to establish standards of timing. Whether its measuring wavelengths of star light or having computers communicate precise time measurement is needed. So where is the “clock” in your electronics? We examine a cross-section of devices and talk about how crystals, optics, mechanical devices, and atomic clocks keep time.

In unit one we covered how electricity is measured, and in unit two you will see how time measurement was combined with electric meters to make AC power possible.

Reaching our audience:

The Universe of Instrumentation project has reached over 95,000 people since we released unit one, now we look to expand our videos and written web content in unit two.

Universe of Instrumentation Course >

Displays, Electronics, ETC Program News, Videos

The Edison Tech Center Has Moved

The Edison Tech Center has moved to the Gazette building in Schenectady from its former location on North Broadway (2001-2019).

Online reach has exceeded our walk-in visitors since the online programs began in 2007. Our niche audience of just a few million  are spread out across the US and globe, so when it came time to scale down and keep overhead lower we moved to a location that is better suited for long-term operation. The Edison Tech Center and its tens of thousands of technological artifacts are still in use for video productions and research projects.

Gathering together technology from our archives to shoot the new Universe of Instrumentation videos in 2020.

Digital Reach of the Edison Tech Center

The organization as of February 2020 has over 71,000 video subscribers and 13 million views in the online video distribution network. Our two websites reach tens of thousands of students and engineers each month through more than 200 pages on technology history. Our main website EdisonTechCenter.org is undergoing updates so some information on our organization may be out of date.  EdisonTC.org is our news and blog page as well as home of certain programs such as the Universe of Instrumentation.

233+ videos online:

https://www.youtube.com/user/EdisonTechCenter/videos

See our articles by subject below:

AC Power History articles – the surprising history of the electric power grid and its many innovators >
Electric Light History Pages – the 13 major categories of electric light >
Universe of Instrumentation Program – on instruments used by engineers >

Videos

New ETC Videos in 2017

The Edison Tech Center has over 200 videos available free to students via YouTube. This year at the Edison Tech Center we have put out excerpts of larger videos on YouTube. Here are the new videos:

Frank Wicks talking about oil, batteries, renewables and electric cars. His discussion with Ernie Tetrault reflects many talking points of the time at around 2008. Some things have changed but many points remain the same.

 

 

Here is an interview with Harold Gauper talking about design of electronics at the beginning of the electronic age. They had to deal with radio interference for the first time.

 

Rudy Dehn talking about radar history from 1937 until 1955. He shows us the L128 klystron tube developed by General Electric:


 

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