When I saw this Hughes
Research and Development Laboratories employment ad in a 1955 issue of Radio &
Television News magazine, I wasn't sure how to take it. The text of the ad makes no
reference to the bar graph and the weird drawing. Note the "bottle" is actually
a slide rule. The graph can be interpreted to indicate that the more education a
person has, the less likely he is to have children. If the typical age of the respondent
is in the twenties, then that might reflect how people still in school to earn a
higher degree would not be having children. It might also show that people with
higher degrees focus more on their careers than on having a family. If you extrapolate
the graph backward, does it imply people with an Associate's degree might average
1.5 children, those with just a high school diploma have about 1.7 children, and
high school dropouts average maybe 2.0 kids? You have to also assume that most of
the people with higher degrees earned them prior to beginning work or else you would
have to ask what the Ph.D. with 0.9 kids did with the other 0.5 kids that he had
when he only had a Bachelor's degree (1.4 kids)?
BTW, that Boolean equation appeared at the top of the ad, but I cannot figure
out how it applies. Maybe it was erroneously printed there by the publisher because
I could not find any place in the magazine that it might have come from. It does
not simplify.
Hughes Research and Development Laboratories Ad
S = ABC + ABC + ABC + ABC
Sidelights of the Scientists
Number 1 of a series
Scientists and Their Children
Some of the young fellows on our staff have been analyzing our files of personal
data regarding scientists and engineers here at Hughes. What group characteristics
would be found?
With additional facts cheerfully contributed by their colleagues they have come
up with a score of relationships - some amusing, some quite surprising. We shall
chart the most interesting results for you in this series.
Results may be to some extent atypical due to California locale. Yet we would
surmise that they are fairly representative. Some may well lead to soul-searching:
"How am I doing in my chosen field? In my projected career, am I near the point
of optimum advancement, or am I just some-where along the way?" If the time should
come when a move is indicated in your case, we hope you will give serious consideration
to joining the exceptional group at Hughes.
In our laboratories here at Hughes, more than half of the engineers and scientists
have had one or more years of graduate work, one in four has his Master's, one in
15 his Doctor's. The professional level is being stepped up continually to insure
our future success in commercial as well as military work.
Data obtained from a 20% random sample of the 2,200 professional engineers and
scientists of Hughes Research and Development Laboratories.
Security considerations have largely obscured Hughes' pre-eminence as a developer
and manufacturer of airborne electronic systems. Hughes is now largest in the field.
The Hughes research program is of wide variety and scope. It affords exceptional
freedom as well as exceptional facilities. Indeed, it would be hard to find a more
exciting and rewarding human climate for a career in science.
Our program includes military projects in ground and airborne electronics, guided
missiles, automatic control, synthetic intelligence and precision mechanical engineering.
Projects of broader commercial and scientific interest include research in semiconductors,
electron tubes, digital and analog computation, data handling, navigation, production
automation.
Right now we have positions for people familiar with transistor and digital computer
techniques. Digital computers similar to the successful Hughes airborne fire control
computers are being applied by the Ground Systems Department to the information
processing and computing functions of the large ground radar weapons control systems.
Engineers and physicists with experience in these fields, or with exceptional ability,
are invited to send us their qualifications.
Scientific Staff Relations Hughes
Research and Development Laboratories
Culver City, Los Angeles County, Calif.
Posted June 6, 2024 (updated from original post
on 10/30/2018)
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