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January Newsletter
The Gliders of John Montgomery
Beginning in 1882, John Montgomery designed and built a series of revolutionary flight vehicles. His glider of 1883 is credited with being the first aircraft to achieve controlled flight.
This was 11 years before Otto Lilienthal’s glider flights and 18 years before the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight. Montgomery’s Santa Clara of 1905, which was designed and built on the SCU campus, demonstrated controlled flight during a descent of 4,000 feet. The Evergreen of 1911 was an airplane design ahead of its time. In this talk, the gliders of John Montgomery will be described and their significance assessed.
Our Speaker:
DR. MARK ARDEMA is currently a professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Santa Clara University. From 1986-1998, he was Chairman of the Department. Prior to coming to Santa Clara, he spent 21 years at NASA Ames Research Center in a variety of research and management positions. From 1974-1980 he was technical manager of NASA’s modern airship program and from 1980-1982 he served as Research Assistant to the Ames Director. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974.
Professor Ardema’s research interests have included optimal control, differential games, singular perturbations, trajectory optimization, structural analysis, and aerospace vehicular preliminary design. He has over 140 publications in these areas. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA and is a current Associate Editor of Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. In 1994 he was named the Outstanding Researcher in the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University.
The Way To Go!
Will you help? You don’t have to do any work - just write a few things. In the next couple of weeks, we are launching a cool program to find out who wants to remain in Engineers Club and who wants to desert.
You will soon get an envelope containing the following:
We need to prepare the Roster (missing for a couple years) with all the current members. This will be completed 14 days after the deadline date for returns.
All this is a big job and is being undertaken by John Bucholtz, Dope Sheet editor, who has arranged an agenda to assure that, dependent upon your returning the needed info, the club will arrive at an up -to-date status. Things look excellent for 2001 - everyone wants YOU to be part of it.
Really Mr. Babbit?
Bruce Babbit (spelled the same as “rabbit” but with a B) recently gave a talk to a bunch of environmentalists. He pointed to the rapid rise in purchase of bottled water and emphasized that this shows something about the quality of water in America.
Where do these people come from? Here’s a guy serving as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior who makes inane and insane statements of this kind obviously to get one of his favorite points across.
Doesn’t this clown realize that the proliferating sales of bottled water indicate just one thing. It’s convenient to have a bottle of water with you and much less cumbersome than the kitchen sink.
When people travel, a supply of bottled water is great - a bottle for everyone. It’s certainly more convenient than carrying thermos bottles of water where each person is served a portion in a glass or disposable cup.
Traveling anywhere, a bottle of water is good to have. It can be hoisted to the lips anytime anyone is thirsty. It does not remotely suggest that water at home is poor quality or anything like it.
A Belated Christmas Wish From Richard and Eleanor Ehrlich
Every Engineers Club member receives this Holiday Greeting from Richard and Eleanor Ehrlich in Florida-land: Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season.
And, along with the card came another of Eleanor’s epistles which she writes so well. She wrote it at Thanksgiving.
For us, Thanksgiving will last all the way to Richard’s 79th birthday on November 25 and include the New Year 2001. Our 52 year old son, Paul, Professor at the University of Florida, had quadruple by-pass surgery on November 20th at North Florida Regional Hospital here in Gainesville. The operation was 5 hours long. Paul telephoned on the afternoon of the 21st to tell us he was alive. In October he began to develop chest pains as he walked to his department office. Paul was released from the hospital on the morning of the 24th. He stopped by to see us at 10:30 a.m. We were surprised to see him, but noticed he looked pale and tired.
It would seem to me that Gator football games are the most important events in Gainesville. Football coach Spurrier makes one million dollars a year. 85,000 attend the Gator games. Many of the 45,113 students wear Gator caps and shirts. Homecoming lasts a week and features the Gator parade. From our home we hear the Gator Marching Band and the Gator Growl. Victory brings many parties.
Richard has physical therapy once a week. He uses a walker but does fall to the floor when he loses his balance. Then I need to help him get off the floor. Christopher, grandson, has a new job with Microsoft. He lives in Gainesville and travels to his assigned jobs. His wife, Heidi, is expecting our first great grandchild in May. Their Great Dane pup, Saxon, is now the size of a small pony. Ryan, grandson, manages the repair shop at Bush garage, no relation to George W. Norma, Paul’s wife, cares for her 86 year old mother who fell and broke her pelvis in three places. We are busy with our responsibilities.
Happy Holidays and a good 2001. Love, Eleanor
(Ed. Note: We’ve seen Paul Ehrlich on PBS. He is the reputed guru of black holes in space and had some very interesting programs on Channel 9.)
A Cart Full of Comments
Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.
Doctors say that cheerful people resist disease better than grumpy ones. The surly bird catches the germ.
You’re never as old as you’re going to get.
Where do you go when you have a question that needs an answer these days? The Internet, of course. Here are some questions found on the Internet:
THE NOVEMBER MEETING speaker, Orval Welch, Deputy Director of Aviation, City of San Jose, attracted the largest crowd in a long time - well over 30 attended! This was indicative of the fact a good program evidently does impress members and guests, and the club’s ardent goal is to repeat with better and better programs to get more interest in the club.
The January 25th meeting promises to do just that when Prof. Mark Ardema of Santa Clara University speaks about aviation in a different vein - historically. The program will be excellent and despite the (again) tardiness of the Dope Sheet, please plan to attend. You’ll undoubtedly hear about some things you didn’t know.
The program for February 22 will be a highlight for those who are or have been involved in construction defects litigations. The California Supreme Court, after a couple years of study, issued its decision about a month ago and needless to say it was NOT what the defects trial lawyers expected or wanted. Speaker will be Nick Pastore of Campbell, Warburton, Fitzsimmons et al, one of the oldest law firms in the city. Nick has been involved in a gorge of construction defects cases on the defense side. Next Dope Sheet will be out early as we now have a speaker and an exceptionally good topic.
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