|
Items in cart [1] |
Questions? Call 888-624-8373 |
| Copyright © 2009. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 119
ERIC T. B
1 901-1 988
. GROSS
BY GREGORY S. VASSELL
Eric T. B. GROSS, an internationally renowned electric
power engineer, author, and educator, died on June 27,
198S, at his home in Schenectady, New York, at the age of
eighty-seven. At the time of his death, he was Philip Sporn
Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytech-
nic Institute (RPl) in Troy, New York.
Eric Gross was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 24, 1901.
After completing his secondary education, he studied elec-
trical engineering at the Technical University of Vienna.
Upon graduation "with distinction" in 1923, he embarked
on his professional career by finding employment in indus-
try. In 1924 he joined the Union Electric & Manufacturing
Company (A.E.G.) in Vienna, Austria. While working as a
practicing engineer, he continued his studies at the Tech-
nical University of Vienna, receiving a D.Sc. "summa cum
laude" in 1932. In 1938 he moved to England, accepting a
position as consulting transmission engineer with the A.E.G.
Electric Company, Ltd., London.
When Eric Gross arrived in the United States in 1939, he
already had earned an international reputation as a distin-
guished electric power engineer. By that time he had con-
tributed significantly to major advances in high-speed relaying
and to lightning protection and grounding of high-voltage
transmission networks, and had published extensively in
119
OCR for page 120
120
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
technical journals in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
After a short stint as an instructor in electrical engineering
at the City College of New York and a three-year appointment
as assistant professor at Cornell University, Eric Gross joined
the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology (TTT) in
1945 as professor of electrical engineering. He remained
at lIT for seventeen years, establishing at that school the
nation's first graduate program in electric power engineering.
Over the years, he nurtured this program to a level of excellence
that attracted international recognition.
In ~ 962 Eric Gross came to RPI to become its Philip
Sporn Professor of Electric Power Systems Engineering and
to found the nation's second graduate program in electric
power engineering. The program started with only two
full-time graduate students.
By the time Professor Gross
retired in 1973, he had increased the enrollment to sixty
full-time graduate students (all supported by fellowships).
In the process, RPI emergent as this country's most prominent
graduate school in electric power engineering.
Throughout his career as an educator, Eric Gross re-
mained active as a practicingengineer: he maintained close
ties with the industry; he was a registered professional engineer
in Illinois, New York, and Vermont and a chartered electrical
engineer in the United Kingdom; he authored or coauthored
more than one hundred technical and scientific papers
published in professional journals around the world; he
held twelve patents dealing with his inventions in the field
of electric power systems protection and grounding; and
he served as consultant to several major electric utility
companies, equipment manufacturers, and government
agencies.
Eric Gross was also generous of his time in participating
actively in the work of many professional and academic
organizations, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) (anc! its predecessor organization, the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers), American Soci-
OCR for page 121
ERIC T. B. GROSS
12
ety for Engineering Education, American Power Confer-
ence, Pan American Congress on Engineering, and the In-
ternational Conference on Large High Voltage Electric Systems
(Paris). He served on numerous committees of these orga-
nizations, either as a member or as an officer. He served
as the national president (lL95~54) of Eta Kappa Nu (electrical
engineering honor society) and was a member of Tau Beta
Pi (engineering honor society) and Sigma Xi, The Scientific
Research Society.
Professor Gross has not lacked formal recognition for his
many accomplishments in the art and science of engineering,
both as a distinguished practicing engineer and as an out-
standing engineering educator: he was elected a fellow of
the IEEE, the Institution of Electrical Engineers (London),
the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science; he was elected a life patron
of RPI by its trustees; and he received numerous awards,
medals, and citations from a variety of professional and
educational institutions.
In 1978 Professor Gross was elected to the National Academy
of Engineering for "contributions to electric power system
education and pioneering leadership in the development
of international educational programs." In 1979 he was
awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and the
Arts, First Class, for his career achievements in the field of
electric power engineering.
Throughout his life, Eric Gross was a fighter for what he
believed in: excellence in engineering, proper balance between
theory and practice in engineering education, and preservation
of electric power engineering as an essential engineering
discipline on U.S. campuses. He held strong views and was
prepared to work and fight for them with dedication, tenacity,
and courage.
He entered upon the stage of engineering education in
the United States during a stressful period, when during
the 1950s and early 1960s—the predominantly practical
orientation of the past was being replaced by emphasis on
OCR for page 122
122
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
theory and research. In this process, electric power engi-
neering was getting short shrift on many U.S. campuses
and, in fact, was heading for complete extinction. Many
engineering educators of that day thought that there were
no new insights to be found in the electric power field and
no new challenges to be offered in that area to the inquir-
ing minds of young men and women. Professor Gross strongly
disagreed. It was in this context that the success of his
graduate programs in electric power engineering at ITT and
RPI contributed mightily to the preservation of electric power
as a field of intellectual challenge for new generations of
electrical engineers. Following his example, and through
efforts of like-minded educators and industry leaders, some
twenty new undergraduate and graduate programs in elec-
tric power engineering were established on U.S. campuses
during the 1960s.
Eric Gross occupies a very special place among engineer-
ing educators. He was a teacher of exceptional talent an
"old world" professor right out of a storybook. His teaching
was clear and precise, with a fine blending of theory and
practice. He was demanding of his students, yet also supportive
of their efforts and free with his praise of good work. He
developed strong personal bonds with most of them by showing
genuine interest in their careers, and even in their personal
lives. This unique relationship continued after a student's
graduation. Professor Gross helped his students find jobs
of challenge and opportunity and "Eric's boys" were always
in high demand by industry. When one of them became a
manager, as often happened, Professor Gross would expect
him to help assure proper placement and career development
for his new crop of graduates.
Students revered Professor Gross. Over the years, many
of them achieved distinction of their own in various branches
of electric power engineering. Throughout their careers,
however, they all remained his "boys." Their feelings to-
ward Eric Gross are well expressed in a comment by one of
his former students, who is now a distinguished engineer
OCR for page 123
ERIC T. B. GROSS
123
in his own right as president of an important consulting
firm in the energy field:
I spent only one year under Eric before finishing my studies.
Later in life, our paths crossed many times. He never once wavered
from his dedication to the education of top quality electric power
engineers. I will never forget him and the great good he did me,
professionally and personally. Nor will I forget the standard of excellence
he led me to expect of myself and of others.
OCR for page 124
Representative terms from entire chapter:
eric gross
