Remembering the Slide Rule [Back to Basics]
Shea · IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine · 2016
Languishing in the bottom drawer or memento box of many mature engineers and scientists is an instrument that helped produce the smallest to the most complex designs for hundreds of years. The Slide Rule, once carried by many of us on our belt or prominently displayed on a pile of books to let the world know that we were “techies,” was the “calculator” for generations of designers. As with many technologies it became obsolete suddenly and in a matter of a few years was relegated to history, but more about that later.