A milestone in the communication arts

THE Centennial which engineers now celebrate marks not the end of a century of engineering but rather the 100th anniversary of the organization of engineers for the advancement of applied science. Truly engineering began at man's emergence from the very primitive state. No doubt the first use of fire was looked upon with as much awe and apprehension as is the control of nuclear fission today. To fix in mind the rate of scientific progress, we need only recall that until Lord Rayleigh it was quite conceivable that one mind might encompass and master all of science. No one realizes better than the engineer how futile it would be for one man to attempt to master all of science today. No one realizes better than the engineer the high degree of specialization that has developed in the mechanical arts during the first half of the present century. These reflections lead to the speculation that technological advancement follows some logarithmic law.