Mechanical Engineering publishes department history
Table of Contents
Sample Photographs
View towards the East of the Campus, c. 1891. From left to right: North Hall, Mechanical Arts Building
(with Southeast Annex visible), Bacon Hall, South Hall.
Mechanical Arts Building and Southeast Annex,
housing the
Werner Goldsmith, a professor in the graduate school and
member of the ME faculty since
1947, authored the volume, which includes more than 100
historical photos and appendices
highlighting faculty activities and curricula.
Goldsmith did the bulk of the research for the book in 1985,
spending 10 months delving
into departmental archives and interviewing key figures in
the development of mechanical
engineering at the Berkeley.
"Morrough O'Brien, in my opinion, is the person who is
single-handedly responsible for
developing the kind of department and College we have
today," Goldsmith says of the former
dean of the College. "Before World War II, the rest of the
campus looked down on
engineering for not doing research, and it effected faculty
advancement. One of the things
O'Brien insisted on was research.
"The evolution of the department was just fantastic," he
adds. "In 1947, when the veterans
came back, the department tripled in size overnight. We had
to run classes and labs in three
shifts a day to accommodate them. That was my
introduction to Berkeley."
Etcheverry Hall, c. 1985
Among the many historical documents included in the book
are two documents signed by
Abraham Lincoln, as well the first faculty paper and a
graduation certificate from the
department's first commencement.
Goldsmith updated his original manuscript this spring after
funding was secured to print
the publication.
The volume is dedicated to former chancellor Chang-Lin
Tien and his wife, Di-Hwa.
Goldsmith presented a plaque of the dedication page to the
couple in June on Tien's last day
as chancellor.
"In my opinion, he certainly was a magnificent chancellor
and did marvelous things for the
College and the University as a whole," Goldsmith says,
noting that Tien was also a close
friend of Goldsmith's third Ph.D. student when the two
played on the same semi-pro
basketball league in Taiwan in the mid 1950s.
Students, faculty, and staff may purchase the 153-page
hardcover book for the special rate
of $18.50; the regular price is $25. Orders that will be
mailed must include the cost of postage
($1.53 for domestic library-rate mail or $3.00 for overseas
surface mail).
Orders should be sent to the MEIA Office, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, 5118
Etcheverry Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA
94720-1740. Checks should be made
payable to the UC Regents.
Return to ME Home page.
Mining Shops, c. 1890.
From Engineering News
SEPTEMBER 15, 1997, VOL. 68, NO. 4F
The people, places, and projects that have constituted
Berkeley's Department of Mechanical
Engineering through the years are chronicled in
Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley: The
First 125 Years, a book published this month.
The department, once renowned primarily for its heat
transfer group, now has strong
research emphases in controls, design, and manufacturing,
Goldsmith notes. Other changes,
he adds, include the transition from hand-crank calculators,
slide rules, and hand-drawn
figures to computers equipped with computer-aided design
(CAD) programs.
Comments to
slavin@euler.me.berkeley.edu
Latest
update: October 2, 1997
© 1999 UC Regents