ESE 251 HARRY WONG

Four Engineers and a Mathematician

Joseph Louis Lagrange

Born in Italy during the mid-1700s Inspired by a paper by Edmund Halley to enter

mathematics while studying at Turin College in Italy Later studied under Euler and eventually succeeded him

as director of Mathematics at the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

Moved to France in 1786 Survived the French Revolution Reformed the systems of weights & measurements in

France to what is currently used today Made significant advances in diverse fields of

mathematics

Achievements of Lagrange

Method of undetermined coefficients Very useful technique developed by Lagrange A method for finding solutions to inhomogenous

differential equationsLagrange Multipliers

Used often in optimization problemsIn number theory

Proved every positive integer can be expressed as the sum of the squares of four other integers

Death

Died in 1813 and was Buried in the Pantheon

Leonardo Da Vinci

Born in 1452 – Florence To a notary and peasant

Phenomenal individual who accomplished many things as…….

Paintings

A painter…

1505 – Oil on poplar

1452 - Tempera

Anatomy

An anatomist….

Extremely detailed drawings of body parts via dissection

Da Vinci the Engineer

And most importantly – as an engineerMade technical drawings/designs for

machines way ahead of their times

The Helicopter

It consisted of a flat platform with a screw running through it Instead of rotor blades seen in

modern helicopters Had no real hope of actually

taking flightInspired Sikorsky - “father

of helicopters” to start building helicopters Made first mass produced

helicopter

Sketch of Leonardo’s Ornithopter Flying Machine

Sikorsky’s Helicopter

Igor Sikorsky

Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 – First mass produced helicopter

Similar concept – use of rotors instead of screws to generate lift

The Parachute

First modern conical parachute

Linen cloths supported by wooden poles

Testing of Leonardo’s Parachute

In 2000, Adrian Nicholas used the canvas/wood design set by Leonardo to make a parachute

Test jump from 10,000 feet was successful

Proved that Leonardo’s design worked!

Nikola Tesla

A Serbian scientist born in Austria [1856] Trained as an electrical engineer

Immigrated to the US in 1884 Worked for Thomas Edison for a while

Completely redesigned its direct current generatorsLater formed his own company and made

numerous advances in physics, computer science, and robotics

Died in 1943 after a long mental illnessThe unit for magnetic induction was named

Tesla in his honor

The Invention of The Radio

Credit usually attributed to Marconi Tesla’s patent upheld by SCOTUS after death

Used a high voltage resonance transformer [Tesla Coil] to propagate radio waves

And a rather bulky receiver consisting of a strong magnet, a long steel wire, and various other components (like an antenna)

Used innovation to pilot a mechanical radio-controlled boat

Other Achievements of Nikola Tesla

Developed AC current (alternating current) Electric current can reverse direction sinusoidally Proved superior to DC

Transport electricity further at higher voltages Used for domestic energy distribution

Developed induction motor AC motor Uses electromagnetic induction to get power to motor

“Electromagnetic induction is the production of voltage across a conductor situated in a changing magnetic field or a conductor moving through a stationary magnetic field.”

Charles Algernon Parsons

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons was born in 1854 Graduated college with a degree in mathematics Founded a company called C.A. Parsons and Company to market his

invention of steam-turbines Company is now part of Siemens

Died in 1931 in Jamaica

Achievements of Parsons

Primarily known for his invention of steam turbines Uses pressurized steam to turn rotary blades

producing energy Showcased the capabilities of this technology in the

Turbina, the first turbine-powered ship Faster than any other ship at that time

Later used to power everything from locomotives to airplanes

Left: steam turbineRight: Turbina

Achievements of Parsons Today

Today, 80 percent of world electricity production is done via a steam turbine driving a electric generator

Above: Generator powered by 3 steam turbines – 1000 MW

Alexander Graham Bell

Born in 1847 in Scotland Had two other brothers who died of Tuberculosis He immigrated to the US in the 1870 to establish a school for the deaf for the

purpose of teaching them how to speak using special method set up by his father One of the students was Helen Keller

Later abandoned the school to devote his full energy to the telephone Died in 1922

The Telephone

Derived from Bell’s work on the harmonic telegraph MAIN QUESTION: Can we use electric currents to represent sound

waves? ANSWER: YES

According to patent: the telephone was an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically” Sound was converted into waves that were then transmitted by wires

Alexander Bell speaking into a telephone prototype

The Metal Detector

Developed the first metal detector Device that detects metals by electromagnetic

induction Used to detect (unsuccessfully) the bullet lodged in

President Garfield’s body

Hydrofoil Boat

Bell with Casey Baldwin created first hydrofoil boat prototype Based on the idea of hydroplanes

As speed of boat increases – hydrofoils lift boat steadily out of water – the hydrofoils generate lift

Allows the hydrofoil boat to reach amazing speeds Created the Bell HD-4 that could reach speeds of 71

MPH

Questions