{"id":1762,"date":"2010-07-10T21:47:49","date_gmt":"2010-07-11T01:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/judykat.com\/ken-judy\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2010-07-09T01:01:07","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T05:01:07","slug":"man-father-engineer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/judykat.com\/ken-judy\/man-father-engineer\/","title":{"rendered":"This man is why my father became an engineer"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a boy growing up in West Virginia, my father wanted to study science but a high school teacher convinced him he had no talent for it. <\/p>\n

That man was not<\/em> why my father became an engineer.<\/p>\n

My father joined the Navy, served in the Korean War and became a non-commissioned officer.<\/p>\n

While enlisted, he took a class in radio\/radar technology. The instructor, a well-respected engineer, turned out to be a great teacher – at least for my father. Which is great enough for me.<\/p>\n

\"VacuumMy father became the best student in the class. The instructor’s encouragement convinced him to pursue a career in engineering.<\/p>\n

My father earned degrees in electrical and a nuclear engineering and made a long career working with technologies evolved from those he learned in that first class.<\/p>\n

Now retired, my father decided to find out who this teacher was who had made such an impact on his life.<\/p>\n

***<\/center><\/p>\n

Nick Holonyak<\/a> invented the Light Emitting Diode (LED). He is winner of the IEEE Medal of Honor<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Before that he was the first post graduate student of John Bardeen<\/a> who with fellow Nobel Laureate, Walter Brattain<\/a>, invented the first transistor. <\/p>\n

Somewhere in between these accomplishments, he taught engineering to a class of military personnel.<\/p>\n

When my father speaks of Nick Holonyak it is with gratitude and wonder.<\/p>\n

***<\/center><\/p>\n

\"NewMy father, the engineer, encouraged me to love science. I studied mathematics and physics and make my living building software. <\/p>\n

I encourage my grade school aged daughter to love science. This year, my daughter’s robotics team competed at the New York City FIRST LEGO League<\/a> Championship.<\/p>\n

These are perhaps small things to a man who assisted Nobel Laureates, won prestigious engineering awards, worked at Bell and GE Labs and continues to teach at a research university in a position he’s held for over forty years.<\/p>\n

But Nick Holonyak is the reason my father became an engineer. His teaching kindled an enthusiasm that is a source of generational wealth to our family.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a boy growing up in West Virginia, my father wanted to study science but a high school teacher convinced him he had no talent for it. That man was not why my father became an engineer. My father joined … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[776,403,345,777,772,309,770,774,773,779,769,775,768,60,470,771,778],"class_list":["post-1762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-education","tag-engineer","tag-first-lego-league","tag-great-teacher","tag-ieee-medal-of-honor","tag-instructor","tag-john-bardeen","tag-lemelson-mit-prize","tag-light-emitting-diode","tag-navy","tag-nick-holonyak","tag-nobel-laureates-in-physics","tag-physics","tag-science","tag-teacher","tag-walter-houser-brattain","tag-west-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t