What I've Done...
Selected accomplishments during my years with IBM and
EPRI (for details, see
Resumé):
-
Pioneered early IBM developments
in laboratory automation, holder of two patents in this
technology
-
Co-founded IBM's research program
in organic metals
-
Fundamental contributions to
electronic structure of organic metals
-
Initiated IBM research effort on
the magnetoresistance effect which is used today in all hard
drives
-
Member of task forces that
initiated efforts to develop IBM's current storage and
display products
-
Initiated and led research effort
at IBM Almaden on high temperature superconductors
-
Co-inventor on international
patent for high temperature superconductivity
-
Pioneered
high school education projects on high temperature
superconductors
-
Managed EPRI's strategic programs
on high temperature superconductivity and wide bandgap
semiconductors
-
Arranged an industrial
alliance on high temperature superconducting wire which
earned EPRI a $2.3 M ROI
-
The
SuperCable, SuperCity and
All-Superconducting Substation visions
-
Apprised and advised EPRI
Executives and utility oversight committees on a broad range
of emerging energy technologies, e.g., advanced "hot"
fusion, hydrogen, power electronic devices, power line
communications and security
-
Served as EPRI's "lightening rod"
to debunk a number of "energy forever" claims that violated
the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and other instances of
careless or fraudulent science (see my article on the
infamous 2002 "
Bell
Labs Scandal")
-
Authored a number of prize-winning
presentations and articles on energy science and technology
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What I'm Doing Now...
In February, 2004, I retired
from EPRI and formed W2AGZ
Technologies. My current projects are (for exact details,
Contact Me):
-
Visiting Scholar in Applied
Physics at Stanford University (this is an unpaid staff
position with faculty privileges...fame, but no fortune)
working on density functional stability calculations for
various prospective transition metal oxide compounds
-
Consultant to EPRI on the
SuperGrid vision
-
Consultant to EPRI on Stanford
project to search for new cuprate perovskite compounds
-
Reviewer of the
DOE/OETD program for power applications of
superconductivity
-
Continuing to "imagineer" new
energy delivery concepts, e.g., the
SuperCable, enabling the co-transmission of electrical
and chemical power
-
Freelance writer and speech giver
on energy science and policy issues
-
Giving talks at key
superconductivity conferences (go to
Presentations)
-
Collecting background for my
forthcoming book on the discovery of high temperature
superconductivity
-
Building computers and evaluating
software (visit
About This
Site)
-
Learning how to construct web
sites...like this one!
-
Spending quality time with family
and busy raising my final teenager, Diego Patrick
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What I Can Do for You...
Here's some of the stuff
I'm good at...there's more...go to
Resumé. If you
see a skill I can apply to your business requirements and
issues, Contact Me.
-
Assessing both the promise and
problems of emerging energy science and technology...two
examples, one past and
another
more recent (hydrogen).
-
Early identification of
discoveries that may have eventual commercial importance,
for example,
HTSC coated conductors and
MgB2.
-
Serving as a detective exposing
incidents of "bad science," such as reports of "unidentified
superconducting objects," and experimental findings "too
good to be true." The former review won Nature's "Scientist
as Science Writer Award."
-
Making "Rotary Club" type
presentations clarifying complex scientific and energy
issues to lay audiences...like politicians and their staffs.
Here's a
talk
I gave to a conference of state legislators.
-
Assisting media journalists
(press and TV) in understanding the relevance (or lack
thereof) of emerging scientific or technology developments
(latest on a second season episode of MythBusters).
-
"Imagineering." See my
Physics Today essay predicting the discovery of
superconductivity at room temperature in
2028,
and my
2003 presentation at Rockefeller University's workshop,
"The Next 1000 Years."
-
Covering and summarizing major
scientific conferences and events. Read about the "Woodstock
of Physics."
-
Reviews of recently published
books on science, science history and science policy.
Have a look at two of my personal favorites, "
A
Thread Across the Ocean," and "Politicizing
Science."
-
Posing as an ageing male model (15
Minutes of Fame in 1987).
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