Will History Repeat Itself? [From the Editor’s Desk]
Dave B. Durocher · IEEE Industry Applications Magazine · 2023
The great French philosopher Voltaire once said, “History never repeats itself. Man always does.” In contemplating this quote, Voltaire perhaps considered engineers, who by nature are drawn to advance change, but at times also fail to recognize that human behaviors most often remain the same. Engineers are avid students of history. Whether conducting an experiment or developing a process, engineers embrace an iterative approach toward continuing improvement. In the aggregate, our electrical industry and members of IEEE can be proud of our history. The articles in this issue focused on innovations in alternative energy are a testimony to engineers serving as problem solvers—leveraging technology to benefit humanity. However, due to the foibles of “man”, not all history in the electrical industry has been good. The “History” column in this issue[A1]tells the story of a time when man’s greed and corruption destroyed the careers of many business leaders in our industry—some who were charged criminally and served sentences behind bars. I encourage all to read this article. Edward L. Owen is our guest author for the “History” article in this issue.