Page 442 - Electrical Properties of Materials

Epilogue

Eigentlich weiss man nur, wenn man wenig weiss,
mit dem Wissen wächst der Zweifel.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Republic of Science shows us an association of independent initiatives,
combined towards an indeterminate achievement ... its continued existence
depends on its constant self-renewal through the originality of its followers.
Michael Polanyi article in Minerva 1962

I hope these lectures have given you some idea how the electrical properties of
materials come about and how they can be modified and exploited for useful
ends. You must be better equipped now to understand the complexities of the
physical world and appreciate the advances of the last few decades. You are, I
hope, also better equipped to question premisses, to examine hypotheses, and
to pass judgment on things old and new. If you have some feeling of incom-
pleteness, if you find your knowledge inadequate, your understanding hazy,
don’t be distressed; your lecturers share the same feelings.
The world has changed a lot since the first edition of this book. The quiet
optimism reigning forty-three years ago is no longer the order of the day.
Nowadays people tend to be either wildly optimistic, envisaging all the wealth
our automatic factories will produce, or downright pessimistic, forecasting the
end of civilization, as we run out of energy and raw materials. The optimists
take it for granted that the engineers will design the automatic factories for
them, and even the pessimists have some lingering hopes that the engineers
will somehow come to the rescue. It is difficult indeed to see any alternative
group of people who could effect the desired changes. I greatly admire physi-
cists. Their discoveries lie at the basis of all our engineering feats, but I don’t
think they can do much in the present situation. The current research of ge-
neticists, microbiologists, and biologists may well produce a new species of
supermen, but it is unlikely that we can wait for them. We cannot put much
trust in politicians either. They will always (they have to) promise a better fu-
ture, but the power to carry out their promises is sadly missing. There is no
escape. The responsibility is upon your shoulders. Some of you will, no doubt,
opt for management, but I hope many of you will employ your ingenuity in
trying to find solutions to the burning engineering problems of the day. You are
more likely to succeed if you aim high. And it is more fun too.
I would like to end by quoting a passage written about the joys of invent-
ive engineering by the late Professor Kompfner, the inventor of two important
microwave tubes, and the designer responsible for the electronics in the first
communications satellites, and with whom we were privileged to work for a
few years in this laboratory.