2001 IEEE Conference on the History of Telecommunications
2001 IEEE Conference on the History of Telecommunications
The 2001 IEEE Conference on the History of Telecommunications (CHT2001) was the fourth in a series of workshops sponsored by the IEEE History Committee and the IEEE History Center at Rutgers University. The profound role telecommunications has had in shaping the modern world made this an important topic of historical study!
This workshop was held at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Canada. This was an ideal site for such as meeting. It was here on 12 December 1901 that Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal. 27 July 2001 was the 135th anniversary of the landing of the first transatlantic cable at Heart's Content in Newfoundland.
A total of 27 papers were submitted for this conference, of which 18 are available online.
In 2001 a special feature was added to the workshop, a worldwide Student History Paper Contest. A grant from the IEEE Foundation made it possible to provide travel funds for the winners of the contest. Additional funds for the conference were supplied by the National Science Foundation. The five papers, presented in a poster session are also available online.
Roster/Contact Info
| Attendee | Organization | |
| Bissell, Christopher | UK Open University's Faculty of Technology | [email protected] |
| Bowers, Brian | Science Museum, London | [email protected] |
| Barnes, Sue | Fordham University | [email protected] |
| Burns, Bill | Atlantic-Cable.com | [email protected] |
| Carlson, Bernard | University of Virginia | [email protected] |
| Carvallo- Fernandini, Rodrigo | Catholic U., Valparaiso, Chile | [email protected] |
| Chapuis, Robert | International Telecommunications Union | n/a |
| Collins, Martin | National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution | [email protected] |
| Connolly, Cornelia | University of Limerick, Ireland | [email protected] |
| Crowther-Heyck, Hunter | University of Oklahoma | [email protected] |
| de Cogan, Donard | University of East Anglia (UEA) Norwich | [email protected] |
| Dewalt, Bryan | Canada Science and Technology Museum | [email protected] |
| Dilhac, Jean-Marie | Institut National des Sciences Appliquees of Toulouse | [email protected] |
| Finn, Barney | National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution | [email protected] |
| Frazer, Edward | E. J. Frazer & Associates Ltd. | [email protected] |
| Freeze, Karen | University of Washington | [email protected] |
| Fridlund, Mats | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | [email protected] |
| Geselowitz, Michael | IEEE History Center | [email protected] |
| Graham, Margaret | McGill University | [email protected] |
| Hayes, Jeremiah (Jerry) | Concordia University | [email protected] |
| Heyes, Howard | Memorial University of Newfoundland | [email protected] |
| Hochfelder, David | IEEE History Center | [email protected] |
| Hoffman, Mary Ann | IEEE History Center | [email protected] |
| Hong, Sungook | University of Toronto | [email protected] |
| Izawa, Tatsuo | NTT Electronics Corporation | [email protected] |
| Levine, Gertrude (Trudy) | Fairleigh Dickinson University | [email protected] |
| Magoun, Alexander | David Sarnoff Library | [email protected] |
| Malik, Rahul | Nanyang Technological U., Singapore | [email protected] |
| Moloney, Cecilia | Memorial University of Newfoundland | [email protected] |
| Morton, David | IEEE History Center | [email protected] |
| Nebeker, Jakob | University of Illinois | [email protected] |
| Nebeker, Rik | IEEE History Center | [email protected] |
| Olivier, Guy | Ecole Polytechnique Montreal | [email protected] |
| Read, Wallace | Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities | [email protected] |
| Sappol, Michael | National Library of Medicine | [email protected] |
| Schwartz, Mischa | Columbia University | [email protected] |
| Sloan, Martha | Michigan Tech University | [email protected] |
| Stone, Gerry | n/a | n/a |
| Swartzlander, Earl | University of Texas, Austin | [email protected] |
| Symons, Lenore | Institution of Electrical Engineers | [email protected] |
| Tanaka, Keiko | University of Washington | [email protected] |
| Voss, Robert | n/a | [email protected] |
| Walp, Robert | GCI, Inc. | [email protected] |
Invited Papers
Full program with abstracted papers
Session 1: Technology and Business Strategy: Part 1
- From the Cutting Edge to the Conservative Trough: The Telegraphy Business from the 1850s to the 1920s, Bernard Finn
- Partners in Crime: The Telegraph Industry, Finance Capitalism, and Organized Gambling, 1870-1920, David Hochfelder
- Several Paths Leading to the Use of Small Earth Stations for Satellite Communications Systems, Robert M. Walp. See also C-Band Story Ku Band Story, S-Band Story, S-band Report
Session 2: Technology and Business Strategy: Part 2
- Turning up the Clock Speed: Corning and the Fiber Optics Revolution, Margaret Graham
- History of Developments of Vapor-Phase Axial Deposition for Optical-Fiber Fabrication and Pioneering Work of Silica-Based Planar Lightwave Circuits, Tatsuo Izawa
- One World, One Telephone, One Love: Iridium, A Post-Cold War, Postmodern, Global-A-Go-Go Tale, Martin Collins
Session 3: Submarine Telephony
- The First Transatlantic Telephone Cables, Lenore Symons
- Reminiscences of TAT-1, Jeremiah F. Hayes
- Milestones in Submarine Telecommunications, Robert Chapuis
Session 4: Politics and Communications Technology
- Communications in Troubled Times: the Case of Ireland and Newfoundland, Donard de Cogan
- Switching in a National Relation: Public-Private Cooperation in the Development of Telephony Technology in Postwar Sweden, Mats Fridlund
- Contention Control in Multi-Access Resource Systems, Gertrude Levine
Session 5: Assessing Stature in the History of Telecommunications: Part 1
- Cooke and Wheatstone, and Morse: A Comparative View, Brian Bowers
- The First Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy in 1901: Collaboration or Competition between Guglielmo Marconi and John Ambrose Fleming?, Sungook Hong
- Promotion versus Manufacturing as a Strategy for Earning Money from Inventions: Lessons from the Career of Nikola Tesla, 1885-1915, W. Bernard Carlson
Session 6: Assessing Stature in the History of Telecommunications: Part 2
- Pushing Technology: David Sarnoff and Wireless Communications, 1911-1921, Alexander B. Magoun
- Peter C. Goldmark: Technological Visionary, Karen J. Freeze
- Judge Harold H. Greene: A Pivotal Judicial Figure in Telecommunications Policy and His Legacy, Bill Yurcik
Session 7: Student History Papers
- The History of CTC and Entel: Precursors of Telecommunications in Chile, Rodrigo Carvallo-Fernandini, Catholic University of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile (Region 9)
- The History of Telecommunications in Ireland, Cornelia Connolly, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland (Region 8)
- Spread Spectrum - Secret Military Technology to 3G, Rahul Malik, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Region 10)
- Science and Technology: Lord Kelvin's Atlantic Cable, Jakob Nebeker, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA (Region 4)
- The Mobile Communications Environment in the European Union: Systems, Regulations, and Consequences in the Past, Present, and Future, Keiko Tanaka, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA (Region 6)
Session 8: Microelectronics and Telecommunications
- The Telephone Answering Machine as a Reflection of Modern Society, 1877-2001, David Morton
- Alan Kay: Transforming the Computer Into a Communication Medium, Susan Barnes
- Towards a History of Computer Communications: the 1950's to the 1970's, Mischa Schwartz
Session 9: Science, Mathematics, and Telecommunications
- The "American Method": The 19th-Century Telegraphic Revolution in Finding Longitude, Trudy E. Bell
- Inventing the "Black Box": Mathematics as a Neglected Enabling Technology in the History of Communications Engineering, Chris Bissell
- The Recent History of Secure Voice Communications, Earl E. Swartzlander, Jr.
Session 10: The Internet and Earlier Telecommunications Networks
- The Telegraph of Claude Chappe: An Optical Telecommunication Network for the 18th Century, Jean-Marie Dilhac
- Weaving the Once and Future Web: Comparative Telecommunications History in Public Space, Michael Sappol and Hunter Crowther-Heyck
- Content Versus Connectivity in Telecommunications History, Andrew Odlyzko
Corresponding Papers
- The Invention of Enigma and How the Polish Broke It Before the Start of World War II, Slawo Wesolkowski
- Connecting Continents, Wallace S. Read, P.Eng.
Student Paper Contest
Through a generous grant from the IEEE Foundation, CHT2001 conducted its first worldwide history paper competition among the IEEE Student Branches and offered the winners an opportunity to travel to St. John's and present his or her winning paper at a Poster Session during this Conference. In addition, each winner's Student Branch received an honorarium.
The winners attended an Awards Luncheon, sponsored by Aliant, during the conference. Presentation of the Awards was made by Martha Sloan, 2001 IEEE History Committee Chair, and Dr. Maxwell House, Lieutenant- Governor of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Special recognition goes to Wally Read, Local Arrangements Chair, who arranged for the Lieutenant-Governors attendance, and funding by Aliant.
Undergraduate
2nd - The History of CTC and Entel: Precursors of Telecommunications in Chile, Rodrigo Carvallo-Fernandini, Catholic Univ of Valparaiso, Chile (Region 9)
1st - Science and Technology: Lord Kelvin's Atlantic Cable, Jakob Nebeker, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, (Region 4)
Graduate
3rd - The History of Telecommunications in Ireland, Cornelia Connolly, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland (Region 8)
2nd - Spread Spectrum - Secret Military Technology to 3G, Rahul Malik, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Region 10)
1st - The Mobile Communications Environment in the European Union: Systems, Regulations, and Consequences in the Past, Present, and Future, Keiko Tanaka, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA (Region 6)
Awards Luncheon
Committees/Volunteers
Organizing Committee
- Martha Sloan, General Chair
- Wally Read, Local Arrangements
- Earl Swartzlander
- David Mindell
Program Committee
- Mike Geselowitz, Co-Chair
- Rik Nebeker, Co-Chair
- David Morton
- Dave Hochfelder
