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Wouk, Victor, 1919-
Oral History interview with Victor Wouk, 24 May 2004.
This wide-ranging interview in May 2004 with the engineer and hybrid-automobile pioneer Victor Wouk begins with his recollections of his graduate work in electrical engineering at Caltech (1939-1942), after receiving his bachelor's degree from Columbia. Includes recollections of Robert A. Millikan, William H. Pickering, William R. Smythe, and others. He recalls his wartime work at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh on the ignitron and the separation of uranium isotopes. Also recalls his early interest in television and work for North American Philips in Tarrytown, NY. Forms the Electronic Energy Conversion Corp. in 1959 to manufacture DC power units. Recalls work for Motorola founder Russell Feldman, who in the early 1960s asked him to design a practical electrically powered car; eventually, in consultation with Lee A. DuBridge and others at Caltech, Wouk determined that a hybrid vehicle, using both electric power and traditional combustion, was a better alternative. Studies were revealing the detrimental effects of smog in the nations cities, and in 1970 the Clean Air Act passed. Wouk had meanwhile sold the Electronic Energy Conversion Corp. to Gulton Industries and gone to work for them; he left, along with Gultons Charles Rosen, to form a new company, Petro-Electric Motors, to develop a hybrid vehicle for the Federal Clean Car Incentive Program in the early 1970s. He recalls in detail their travails and eventual success, and comments on the opposition of Eric Stork at the Environmental Protection Agency to the hybrid idea, which finally resulted in rejection of his model. He concludes the interview by commenting on the recent history, current popularity, and future of hybrid cars, and on his ideas about regenerative braking.
Electrical engineer. After graduating from Caltech (PhD 1942), Wouk devoted himself largely to the development of hybrid motor vehicles and the use of semiconductors in electric vehicles. The range of his activities is wide, and he has consulted for several institutions and the government on the problems of energy.
DuBridge, Lee A. (Lee Alvin), 1901-1994-
Millikan, Robert Andrews, 1868-1953.
Smythe, William Ralph, 1893-
Motorola, Inc.
Westinghouse Research Laboratories.
Electrical engineering.
Energy -- Research.
Hybrid electric cars.
Electronic industries -- United States -- History.
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Pickering, W. H. (William Hayward), 1910-2004
Goodstein, Judith R. interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
California Institute of Technology. Institute Archives. 1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
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