Family background, childhood in Salt Lake City; Mormon-Jewish relations; early interest in science, mathematics, music; engineering studies at University of Utah, B.S., 1933; influence of Depression; graduate work at California Institute of Technology: recollections of Robert A. Millikan, Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Dean Wooldridge; fellow students, high voltage engineering; religious discrimination in engineering field; employment with General Electric: move to Schenectady, New York, training program, General Electric laboratory; head of General Electric research team in microwaves and electron optics; classified work during World War II; first book, FIELDS AND WAVES IN MODERN RADIO, 1944; recollections of General Electric mentor C.W. La Pierre; work on rocketry

and jet engine turbines at California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; United States air defense needs, expanding weapons systems business; development of Hughes Aircraft, impressions of Howard Hughes; creation of Falcon missile; expansion of Hughes Aircraft, work with Dean Wooldridge; break with Hughes; creation of Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation; development of intercontinental ballistic missile system; imbalance between technological problems and social maturity; nuclear arms issue; role of private industry and government in science, technology, and the economy; merger of Ramo-Wooldridge and Thompson Products; reflections on career motivations, role as entrepreneur, long-term vs. short-term planning; summary of personal accomplishments and disappointments.