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Celebrating 150 Years of Engineering
at Penn: 1852-2002
Tradition
Meets Innovation: A Sesquicentennial Celebration!
The
University community is invited to join the The School of Engineering
and Applied Science commemorate its 150th anniversary with special
events this Wednesday and Thursday.
On
September 25, at 4:30 p.m., the Opening Convocation featuring
keynote speaker William A. Wulf, president of the National Academy
of Engineering will be held in Irvine Auditorium.
On
September 26, at 4:30 p.m., the Birthday Party at Wynn
Commons will include a performance by Mask and Wig, a Combat Robot
Competition, and more music, food and fun.
Penn
Engineering has a history of firsts: It established the country's
first significant laboratory in electromedical research; awarded
the nation's first doctoral degree in bioengineering, and
established one of the country's first bioengineering departments.
Then there's ENIAC, the world's first large-scale, all-electronic,
general purpose, digital computer which paved the way for the
Information Age.
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In
1852, the trustees established the School of Mines, Arts and
Manufactures, as one of the departments of the University
that taught scientific courses. Students paid the professors
directly and the professors rented their teaching space from
the University. In 1872, the trustees reserved space in the
new College Hall (above) to house the Department of Science,
which became the Towne Scientific School three years later
with a gift from trustee John Henry Towne, Esq. |
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Penn
Engineering's flagship, The Towne Building, was dedicated
on October 19, 1906. The brick and limestone building named
for Philadelphia industrialist John Henry Towne was the largest
of several buildings on campus designed by Cope and Stewardson. |
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Due
to open in December of this year, the Melvin J. and Claire
Levine Hall designed by Kieran Timberlake Associates is a
result of a $5 million gift from Melvin J. Levine 'W46
and his wife Claire; (Almanac September 5, 2000) it will double
the space for computer and information science, housing research
labs, faculty offices, conference rooms, a bi-level auditorium
and a cyber lounge. |
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Engineering
students in a small class decades ago.
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Hard
at work in the Moore School of Electrical Engineering.
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Two
of the women who worked on ENIAC, Frances Bilas and Elizabeth
Jennings with a portion of the giant whi ch weighed 30 tons
and had to be manually programmed by over 200 operators. |
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Undergraduate
students Roger Wallace, Jenni Marqiss and Jesse Leung work
on a laptop computer in 1996 with surviving ENIAC components
behind them as ENIAC turned 50. |
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An
official state historical marker, erected in 2000 outside
of the Moore Building at 33rd and Walnut Streets, ENIAC's
birthplace. |
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Penn
President Judith Rodin with Vice President of the United States
Al Gore, Jr. who was honorary chair for ENIAC's 50th
anniversary celebration, February 14, 1996. |
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Fairman
Rogers, dean of the School of Mines, Arts and Manufactures,
established in 1852; he left in 1864. He was an alumnus, an
expert horseman and a patron of the arts. |
J.
Peter Lesley, led the Department of Science, and became dean
of the Towne Scientific School in 1877. He was a renowned
geologist and former Congregational pastor. |
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Merchant
Asa Whitney, benefactor of Penn's first endowed professorship,
the bequest from his estate established the Asa Whitney Professor
of Dynamical Engineering in 1877. |
Alfred
Fitler Moore, headed a firm that made insulated wire; gifts
from his estate turned the Department of Electrical Engineering
into the Moore School of Electrical Engineering. |
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Trustee
John Henry Towne, whose gift in 1873 led to the creation of
the Towne Scientific School which later became part of the
School of Engineering and Applied Science. |
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ENIAC
(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was developed
by John W. Mauchly, H '60, (left) an electrical engineer
who proposed to the Navy that they build an electronic computing
device, and P. Presper Eckert (right). The two Penn scientists
who invented ENIAC in 1946 and patented it in 1951 were just
inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame this past
weekend. |
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SEAS
Deans, past and present: (from left to right) Arthur Humphrey
(1972-1980); Joseph Bordogna (1980-1990); Gregory Farrington
(1990-1998); Edwardo Glandt (1998-present). The 1970s and
1980s saw the reenginering of engineering at Penn. Departments
consolidated; degrees merged. The schools were reorganized
into the College of Engineering and Applied Science in the
early 1970s and renamed the School of Engineering and Applied
Science in 1979. |
Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 5, September 24, 2002
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ISSUE
HIGHLIGHTS:
Tuesday,
September 24, 2002
Volume 49 Number 5
www.upenn.edu/almanac/
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