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I am Marcelo Simões

The Elektron Whisperer (TEW), along with the logo of Goddess Minerva, you will read about wonders on technologies developed over decades by many brilliant engineers and scientists, and how we got to the booming industry of variable-speed motor drives, wind turbines, smart grids, and more. It is always great to understand history to better appreciate technologies. Poincaré, in his book Science and Method, stated firmly that “Discovery is discernment, selection.” Poincaré followed by describing the process of discovery.

Laborious work and then moments of sudden illumination. The process is so subtle and delicate that Poincaré wrote “The real work of the discoverer consists in choosing between these combinations with a view to eliminating those that are useless, or rather not giving himself the trouble of making them at all. The rules which must guide this choice are extremely subtle and delicate, and it is practically impossible to state them in precise language; they must be felt rather than formulated. Under these conditions, how can we imagine a sieve capable of applying them mechanically?” When we study, read textbooks, just follow lectures, we may take things for granted.

Most of the classical textbooks omit mentioning how those ideas, theories and analysis were developed, how many people have devoted themselves to coming up with those brilliant ideas, efficient and powerful equipment, further figuring out analysis methods. Take the example of the steady-state phasor-impedance circuit of an induction machine. This elegant and super concise circuit integrates the electric circuits in the stator and the rotor, an electromagnetic field, and motion all together. In Fitzgerald’s book, several pages have been devoted to deriving this circuit. On the other hand, we do not spot the name of Charles Steinmetz in the text. Reading “Charles P. Steinmetz and the development of electrical engineering science” by R. Kline, one learns that tremendous efforts had been taken to develop such a circuit.

TEW does not take things for granted. For every technological advancement, there were people working behind it. Therefore, a narrative, a personal voice in humanizing those giants connects us with them. If we use our imagination we can see through their eyes, feel the excitement of learning, figuring out, and then we can weave such history in a story of making, in the reality of our life, and in the future of our children.

a scientist/engineer,
a professor in Electrical Engineering; always a storyteller in my heart.

If you recently visited my page you can see that I just changed the content. My previous one was pretty much similar to my curriculum and professional profiles that I have in other places scattered on the internet.

I decided to starting writing along a perception of the historical and philosophical perspective in how I see the world, in order to celebrate my 60 years of already existence. I believe I do, as a memoir on understanding electrical engineering, power electronics, power systems, how they are related to computer technology, the developments of artificial intelligence, the need for sustainability and a renewable powered world.

I will write how those aspects have been intertwined from middle of 19th century till this second decade of the 21st century. I may add a few connections to other segments of our life in this past 200+ years, for example, how salt and ice were important and their industry displaced by refrigeration that advanced on thermodynamics and electricity – even Albert Einstein had a patent on such path. How electrical engineering shaped US university systems, the shared faculty governance, how academia became (for the major part) in 20th century an ivory tower, and now university tenured systems became impounded by a contemporary model with a certain degree of cultural appropriation.

In my narrative here I will be mostly academic, because that is who I am professionally. Other times, I might be autobiographical or building a creative writing on clouds of fictional narrative, with layers of multidisciplinary. I will tell a story that will be a memoir, reflections, essays, moving along in being informative, fun, based in what is” instead of what could be“.

I hope to write useful content to inform or to entertain. My expectations are to be a timeless approach. I may add pages, write linearly, also non-linearly, going through portals of time or space, writing with different voices, it will be as a blog, as reporting, or maybe poetry.

Eventually I will go through magic realism i.e. literary fiction and art. Where my personal life will be my  realistic view of the world while magical elements will be how I see the world, then blurring lines between fantasy and reality. But to get there it will take time.

My first essay will be why I love Induction Machines, because induction machines, radio, and audio, were my first contacts with electronics and electrical engineering.

How such invention of Nikola Tesla transformed me: Induction Machines

How Oliver Heaviside made Electrical Engineering a science and technology body, allowing what made Laplace Transform to be a tool: Operational Calculus.

if you want to reach me, for feedback, or suggestions, on this journey, please write to : mgs at msimoes dot press, otherwise, if you have only professional or academic interests, please write to me on my plenty of other professional emails, or reach me in LinkedIn.

Thank You !

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