IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - 8

SPectrAL LiNeS_

How We Began
a half century ago, a small group
of engineers had a radical idea:
Create the kind of magazine they
themselves would want to read

ifty years ago this month, members of the IEEE got called simply Electrical Engineering; the IRE had the Proceedings
the first tangible benefit of their membership-a fat, glossy
of the IRE, an archival journal. The volunteer officers of the new
magazine with a jazzy red pattern on the cover. Inside, the
IEEE wanted to create a flagship publication. But what should it be?
magazine's volunteer editor, a plainspoken, 56-year-old
Remarkably, they agreed it should be a magazine, not a journal,
engineering dean from the Midwestern United States named with articles that were solid, compelling, and timely. They soon
John D. Ryder, launched the first-ever Spectral Lines col- ratified a plan designed to establish a magazine that members
would actually read.
umn with a hearty hello.
What was so bold about that? Plenty. Association publications are
"Greetings!" he wrote.
all too often dreary repositories of self-congratulatory articles and
So began a singular experiment in magazine journalism. IEEE
antiseptically sanitized editorial material. The association's leaders
Spectrum has never been an academic journal, but it hasn't been
micromanage editorial operations and avoid
a consumer magazine, either. From its very
controversial but vital topics. That's a shame,
first issue, Spectrum was something unique in
because you can't produce good journalism
publishing: an authoritative and yet accessible
while avoiding controversy. It's like trying to
voice on technology. In a single issue, it might
be a good sailor while avoiding wind.
explain the details of a new semiconductor
Spectrum was, and is, a marvelous fluke.
process, with a level of readability lacking in
It is what it is today in large measure because
a trade magazine, and also reveal and analyze
IEEE SPECTRUM 1964 / 2014
a small group of men believed that a great
irregularities in a vast government IT procurement, with the authority and insight lacking in a newspaper account. professional society should give its members a great magazine.
In this 50th anniversary year of IEEE Spectrum, we will be us- Besides Ryder, the clique included Donald G. Fink, the first gening the Spectral Lines column to describe some pivotal moments
eral manager of the IEEE and a former editor of the legendary
in the magazine's history. And we'll start here with the first issue: McGraw-Hill magazine Electronics; Alfred N. Goldsmith, a revered
January 1964.
radio engineer and a founding member of the IRE; and Elwood
Spectrum sprang from the event that created the IEEE-the glo- K. ("Woody") Gannett, who had managed the IRE's Proceedings.
These people knew what kind of magazine they wanted, but only
riously tumultuous merging, in 1963, of the American Institute
Fink had experience in managing such a publication, and he was
of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers. The
busy running the fledgling IEEE. So Ryder and Gannett started by
AIEE and the IRE each had a publication of note: The AIEE's was
08

JAN 2014

North AmericAN

SPectrUm.ieee.orG

photograph by

Randi Klett

http://SPectrUm.ieee.orG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum January, 2014