Abstract

In 1918, Michael Pupin, professor of electromechanics at Columbia University, criticized leading electrical engineers for departing from Maxwell in their theories of the induction motor. Pupin declared that the attempts of ordinary mortals to do better than Maxwell did must be discouraged. Let us follow Maxwell as long as we can, then when someone is born who is more profound than Maxwell, we will bow to him.' Pupin directed his sarcasm at engineers who had the effrontery to deviate from the canon of applied science. An inventor of considerable reputation, he had successfully applied Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in his invention of the loading coil for long-distance telephony at the turn of the century.2 For Pupin, Maxwell's theory was the surest basis for electrotechnology. Attempts to modify that theory to make it fit the needs of practical design work were bound to erode the foundation on which the entire edifice of electrical engineering rested. The theorists of the induction motor saw the matter differently. They were not trying to do better than Maxwell: they had no intention of modifying his electromagnetic theory, which they, like Pupin, considered to be the scientific basis of electrical engineering. Rather, they were trying to do something different than Maxwell: derive an engineering theory of an electromechanical device, which they accomplished by adapting Maxwell's theory to their needs. And, contrary to DR. KLINE is director of the IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering in New York. He would like to thank Edward Owen, Terry S. Reynolds, Daniel M. Siegel, and Donald W. Novotny for carefully reviewing earlier drafts of the article, and Joyce E. Bedi for photographing figures 4, 6, and 7. The remarks of the T&C referees were especially helpful in making the final revisions.

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