The distinction between electricity for power and electricity for communications (electronics) was the cause of some friction in the early years of radio. The overlap in technologies caused the two fields to encroach on each others territory. Finally, in 1963, the two organizations united to form today's Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE). This division was even more strongly established in Great Britain and Germany, where the fields were identified as "heavy current" (power) engineering and "light current" (electronics) engineering.
Over the years government sponsorship, especially from the military, helped spur the growth of electrical and electronics technology. The early days of radio were boosted by army interest in radio telephones and navy interest in shipboard communications. In World War II, radar and sonar were developed to improve battlefield conditions; these helped spur improvements in electronic components. Federal funding in that era also helped develop the computer. During the 1950s, intensive research was devoted to harnessing atomic energy to generate electricity first for ships and submarines and then for commercial application. And in the 1960s, the young field of space technology and missiles boosted the development of the integrated circuit.
Modern Technology
The integrated circuit-sometimes called the microchip-is a dominant force in electronics technology today. Electronic devices through the 1950s needed a vacuum tube-pieces of metal inside a glass bulb. These tubes tended to be unreliable and to wear out quickly. In 1948 researchers at AT&T invented a solid electronic device, the transistor. This led to a widespread change in electronic designs, which were then called "solid-state." Then, in the early 1960s, researchers at Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor devised a way to build transistors on a tiny slice of silicon with small wires connecting them. Soon, a way to "write" these circuits on the chip with photographic techniques led to the dramatic situation we have today, with the number of electronic elements on a chip multiplying by the thousands each year.
The computer, primarily an invention of electrical engineers and mathematicians, has shared many of the benefits of the microchip. The basic, modern theories of computing were developed shortly after World War II. The first computers ran on vast arrays of vacuum tubes, with circuits being connected and switched manually. With the transistor, and then the integrated circuit, both the computing action of the computer and the storage of data (the computer memory) were greatly simplified and much less costly. The advent of the computer also led to the development of computer languages. Although it is still very possible to learn computer languages while studying electrical/electronic engineering, a more direct route is usually to study computer science.
Education
Electrical/electronic engineering can be one of the most mathematical types of engineering. Whereas most other engineers are limited by the materials they use (concrete for bridges, steel for boilers), electrical/electronic engineers can work with circuits made of a great variety of materials, which can achieve a wide range of effects. Students of this field aren't required to take more math courses than most other engineers, but many of them do in order to improve their proficiency.
Another distinction of the electrical/electronic field is that many baccalaureate graduates go on for a master's degree-often earning it at night while working full-time during the day. The rapid pace of change in electronic technology makes it important to keep up, and one of the better ways of doing this is extending one's study. The IEEE figures show that about one out of three electrical/electronic engineers earns a master's degree.
The typical courses for an undergraduate, beyond the normal requirements for all engineering students, follow two tracks: one for electrical and computer engineering and one for computer science/computer engineering. Course topics for electrical/computer engineers include:
- electromagnetic fields
- circuit design
- logic circuits
- computer architecture
- energy conversion
- computer hardware
- software engineering
- operating systems
- communications
