"...November 11, 1986..."
... "The idea for the conference came up in a meeting of the
Energy Conversion committee of the IEEE. This group later became
part of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. The Chairman
of the committee was A. F. Forestieri, who was with NASA Lewis
Research Laboratory in Cleveland."
"In 1969 electrical power conversion was being achieved with
motor-generator sets and solid-state converters build with
discrete transistors and SCRs. Integrated circuits were being
developed for computers and radios. We could see that linear
integrated circuits could also be used in power converters, and
that specialized integrated circuits could replace complex and
costly circuit boards being used to control the current-carrying
components. It seemed appropriate to bring together the pioneer
converter designers, such as (schwarz.htm) Francisc C.
Schwarz and Daniel S. Golden, with the integrated-circuit
designers."
"We had no "seed money," so we decided to hold a low-cost
conference. The late Bill Cherry of NASA Goddard offered without
cost his laboratory's auditorium, so we scheduled the conference
there. By telephoning potential authors and session chairmen we
organized a two-day meeting. I typed the program on my own
typewriter and mailed it to potential attendees."
"Two weeks before the conference I broke my leg while skiing.
Tom Wilson, the Vice Chairman, kindly took over the running of the
conference, and Joe Voss was our representative from Seattle.
Enthusiasm permeated the first Power Electronics Specialists
Conference, and the second conference was organized on the
spot."
"A search for an inspiring name for the conference took up much
time in organizing meetings. The experimental approach was
obviously successful, with the third title being permanently
adopted. Dave Dobson, who represented IEEE in publishing the
proceedings, was very vocal with his frustrations. Dave had to
explain to libraries all over the world that the new proceedings,
with a different title, were really the current year's issue of
the the Power Conditioning Specialist's conference!"
"I though that you might find these early anecdotes amusing. If
someone in 1970 had told us that an engineer would fly across the
ocean to attend our conference, we wouldn't have believed
him!"
"Very truly yours, /s/ Henry Oman"
Source: Excerpt from a letter by Henry Oman, Boeing Aerospace Co.
to Jerrold Foutz. The letter provides background on the first IEEE
Power Electronics Specialists Conference, then called the Power
Conditioning Specialists Conference held April 20-21, 1970 at NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. Power Electronics
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