Milestone-Proposal:Research and education in electronics and communications at Cruft Laboratory, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science, 1915 to 1947

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Docket #:2013-07

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To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation?

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes

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Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1915 to 1945

Title of the proposed milestone:

Research and education in electronics and communications at Cruft Laboratory, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:

Under the leadership of GW Pierce and EL Chaffee, each recipient of the IRE Medal of Honor, Cruft Laboratory was the site of university courses in electronics and communication, published research, inventions, books, and special training to the armed forces. In 1917 the first Radio Training School was established here. In the 1940s, Cruft Laboratory participated in the gigantic national program of training the armed forces in electronics and communications.

200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.

IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

Boston

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: Boston Section
Senior Officer Name: Robert Alongi, Business Manager

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: Boston Section
Senior Officer Name: Robert Alongi, Business Manager

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: Boston Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Robert Alongi, Business Manager

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Gilmore Cooke
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

Inside the Van Vleck Bridge joining Pierce Hall to Cruft Laboratory, Lyman Laboratory and Jefferson Physical Hall. The address is Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 19A Oxford Street, Cambridge MA 02138. See elsewhere for an image of the bridge.

Pierce/Cruft bridge

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. LATER

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes but extensively modernized.

Details of the plaque mounting:

Will be mounted on the corridor or bridge wall joining the Pierce Hall to Cruft Laboratory.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

Space is opened to students and the general public.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

The present owner of the site is Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, aka HARVARD SEAS. Dean Murray, students staff, all are proud of the new name, Harvard SEAS. To eliminate confusion, note that many of the old references bear the old name, Harvard University.

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include justification here. (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

TO BE ADDED SOON

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

TO BE ADDED SOON

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

TO BE ADDED SOON

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

1. Excerpts Cruft Laboratory, Annual Reports 1916 to 1929. attached 2. Excerpts Annual Report of the Graduate School of Engineering from 1943 to 1945. attached 3. Cruft Electronic Staff, "Electronic Circuits and Tubes" McGraw Hill, 1947 (994 pages). attached 4. Article "Naval School for Radio Electricians Established" Boston Globe, 17 June 1917. attached 5. New Combined Physics Laboratory A Modern Unit……., The Harvard Crimson, March 12, 1932. attached 6. Websites Harvard CHSI biography on Radio Research Laboratory http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/emuseum.asp?action=advsearch&newsearch=1&profile=people&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/8725/,/false/,/true&style=single&searchdesc=Radio Research Laboratory Harvard CHSI biography on Cruft Laboratory http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/emuseum.asp?action=advsearch&newsearch=1&profile=people&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/991/,/false/,/true&style=single&searchdesc=Cruft Laboratory, Harvard University 7. Web Biographies George W. Pierce IEEE GHN http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/George_W._Pierce GW Pierce Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._W._Pierce G. W. Pierce, 1929, Crystal detectors, magnetostriction devices, author E Leon Chaffee IEEE GHN http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/E._Leon_Chaffee#Work_at_Harvard Emory Leon Chaffee Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/104303/Emory-Leon-Chaffee

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.