Taken For Granted

   I was all set to write about MOOCs - Massive Online Open Courses.  I've been paying attention to the phenomenon for  a year or two.  Last month, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran a cover story on their growing importance.  And just this week-end, MOOCs occupy the cover of the Sunday N.Y. Times education supplement.  But MOOCs will have to wait.
   Hurricane Sandy struck a week ago.  There is simply nothing I can add to the coverage, the images and the accounts of the devastation.  It's been a tragic, trying time in the NY metropolitan area and everyone in the GSB community has been affected.  And has been widely noted in our area, the storm follows a series of other weather-related events, all in the fall and all in very recent memory.  The freak October snow storm that hit Schooley's Mountain and Washington Township so hard.  Hurricane Irene.  The Halloween snow storm. And now Hurricane Sandy.  Though each was a separate weather event with its own set of characteristics, all induced widespread power outages that exposed our collective vulnerability to power loss.  
   We are extremely dependent on a secure and unlimited source of electricity. When it is unavailable, we quickly lose an ability to communicate effectively, to transport ourselves, to feed and to warm ourselves.  Speaking from personal experience, it's amazing how quickly you feel somewhat disassociated from not only the routines of your life, but from societal norms. And when it is available, it immediately is forgotten, simply part of our landscape, no more noteworthy than the oxygen in the air.
   So I decided to devote a short post to the people who had a lot to do with the research and the creation of devices that have allowed us to use electricity for practical purposes.  Especially this past week, we're acutely aware of how much we have come to depend on their collective work. You may dream of a life that is free of electrical dependence, but it's unlikely you'll live that life.
   A quick search turned up a list of people that form a continuous thread of electrical understanding.  Some did pure research and others were driven to find practical applications for electricity. I'll just list names.  If someone is unknown to you, take this as an opportunity to find out a bit more about electricity. It's one way not to take it for granted.  By not taking it for granted, it is more likely you'll pay more attention to policy debates about how best to provide for our substantial, and growing appetite for electricity.

Can you match the names and the portraits?

 

Benjamin Franklin

Alessandro Volta

Michael Faraday

Georg Ohm

Hippolyte Pixii

Joseph Henry

Thomas Davenport

Sir William Grove

James Joule

Samuel Morse

Charles Brush

Thomas Edison

Nikola Tesla