10 sites of electrical history to visit on your next road trip

Most places associated with the early development of electricity and electronics are gone, but there are still sites where engineering history persists and can be visited. Summer’s coming, and it’s time for a good, old-fashioned family road trip. Pack up the station wagon, hit the road, and take in the sights.

A potential bonus of a technology-based road trip? The odds of bumping into vacationers like the Griswolds are going to be vanishingly small at these places.

William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” If that’s even true, it’s still significantly less true about historical landmarks. Landmarks seem to be easily forgotten, especially if the site has something to do with science and engineering.

Perhaps that’s understandable. Scientists and engineers tend to be both practical and unsentimental. If you can’t use it, what good is it? Obsolescence can come quick, whether it’s a facility or a product. Buildings get razed, labs get demolished, and devices — tools, towers, test beds, prototypes — get dismantled, recycled, or trashed.  Read more...

Reference: Electronic Products
                   Brian Santo