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March 1969 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Thought experiment: Just
because the March 1969 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine announced in the "News
Briefs" column the passing of Professor Erwin Schrödinger,
does that mean he's really dead? Was his world-famous cat with him at the time?
I'm asking for a friend. In other news, an account of what seems to be a grossly
inhumane medical experiment of the type
Josef Mengele might have
performed during World War II is reported whereby a 700 Hz (yes, 700 cycles
per second) signal of undisclosed power level was imposed on a patient's brain in
lieu of traditional anesthesia gas during a stomach operation. No word of the long-term
effects are included. It obviously did not catch on as an alternative method. Many
other breaking news items are included as well.
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News Briefs
 Erwin Schrodinger Dies
Prof. Erwin Schrodinger died in his native Vienna, Jan. 4, at the age of 74.
His work, in combination with that of de Broglie and Dirac, formed the foundation
for the modern concept of wave mechanics. He shared with P. A. M. Dirac the Nobel
prize for physics in 1933.
Professor Schrodinger conducted a seminar at the Institute for Advanced Studies
in Princeton, N. J., in 1934. He left Austria at the coming of the Hitler regime
in 1938 and taught at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in Ireland till
1956, when he returned to Austria.
Electricity Replaces Ether
An abdominal operation performed on a woman patient at the Medical Center of
the University of Michigan depended on electricity as the anesthetic. A 700-cycle
signal from a signal generator was fed through an amplifier to 1-inch diameter electrodes
connected to the patient's temples. In less than a minute after the unit was turned
on, the patient was unconscious. The patient remained asleep as long as current
was fed to the electrodes. After the operation, the current was turned off and the
patient regained consciousness in less than 60 seconds. The patient said she felt
no discomfort or nausea upon awakening. The entire system costs about $150.
This anesthetic system is highly desirable, since it works directly on the nervous
system and does not seem to affect blood circulation or any body organs.
The use of the electrical anesthesia was developed after 4 years of research
by the university's Medical Center under an Army grant. The Army was interested
because quick recovery from anesthesia is advantageous when operating under combat
conditions.
Earth, Too, Has Hum
That the earth itself gives off a subsonic radio hum at 7.8 cycles per second
has been discovered by scientists of the Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. The low-frequency waves, they say, are excited by lightning discharges
in the area between the earth's surface and the ionosphere. This space forms a resonant
cavity, with waves reflected from the ionosphere at one boundary and from the earth
at the other.
 Electronic Refrigerator Announced by Hitachi
The Consumer Goods Div. of Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, has released specifications on
an electronic refrigerator, including a freezer compartment. The capacity of the
refrigerator is approximately 3-1/3 cubic feet and the outside dimensions 20 x 46
x 23 inches. It uses 36 thermo-elements. The power consumption is given as 30 volts,
10 amps for the cooling space and 20 volts, 10 amps for the freezer. Box temperature
is 40 °F, freezer temperature 9 °F at an ambient temperature of 86 °F.
Television Classroom Takes to the Air
A flying TV school 23,000 feet above Indiana was ready to start telecasting instruction
over Indiana and portions of Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Kentucky early
in the year, Westinghouse Electric reports.
The Stratovision system was tested by Westinghouse some years ago. Two planes
are allotted to the work, one being on the air at a time. Transmission is on uhf
channels 72 and 76. Each plane is equipped with two 1-kw transmitters. The signal
is a special narrow-band type-3 mc wide, and will be transmitted from video tapes.
WWV Sets Its Clock Back
The time signals from WWV, Washington, D. C., and from WWVH in Hawaii were retarded
by 5 milliseconds early in January. The adjustment brought the signals of the U.S.
stations into closer agreement with the standard-frequency broadcast stations of
other countries throughout the world. At the same time, the two stations resumed
broadcasting a special timing code that gives the day, hour, minute and second for
1-minute intervals ten times per hour.
Posted June 30, 2023
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