IEEE History Center: Charles Concordia Abstract

Charles Concordia Interview (February 3, 1994)

Charles Concordia was born on June 20, 1908, and grew up in Schenectady, New York. He had an early interest in music and radio, and this paved the way for his impressive career in electric power systems. In 1926 Concordia joined the General Electric Company, where he worked on early television research and continued his engineering education by taking classes at Union College. Five years later he joined G.E.'s test program, an advanced engineering course. Concordia began focusing on systems engineering and electric utility work, and became G.E.'s consultant to public utilities, advising on system protection and reliability. During World War Two Concordia worked on generators and turbines for naval destroyer propulsion, researched superchargers for airplanes, and helped develop ships' electrical drives. In the 1940s he chaired AIEE's subcommittee on large-scale computing devices and continued his consulting work after the war. Concordia retired from G.E. in 1973 but continued independent consulting for clients such as Westinghouse and power companies in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the G.E. Charles A. Coffin Award, the G.E. Steinmetz Award, the Schenectady's Professional Engineers Society's Engineer of the Year Award, and the AIEE Lamme Medal. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Concordia is also a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a founding member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the international conference on large computing devices.

The interview spans Concordia's career, beginning with his early interest in radio. Concordia focuses on his years with G.E., especially his work advising utility companies. He discusses his devotion to systems protection and reliability, including how this affected his assigned work on naval vessels and aircraft during World War Two. Concordia reminisces about many topics, including G.E.'s advanced training program, 1960s and 1970s electrical blackouts in the Northeast, and his experiences with early computers. He describes his work with load shedding, large generators and motors, voltage regulation, series capacitor instabilities, differential analyzers, computer simulations, and international consulting. Concordia also expresses his opinions about changes in systems engineering over time, IEEE's role in the engineering community, and the merits of nuclear power.

1.	Introduction to interview
2.	Early interest in music and radio
3.	Recalls early radio days
4.	Initial developments in television
5.	1920s television achievements
6.	College education and training
7.	First work at General Electric laboratories
8.	Practical training at G.E.
9.	Deplores increasing trend toward engineering specialization
10.	Joins G.E. in 1926;
	Transfers to G.E. test program
11.	G.E. policies during the Great Depression
12.	Advanced training in early 1930s
13.	Begins systems engineering at Schenectady
14.	Consulting for utilities within G.E.
15.	Works at system production and reliability
16.	Electrical generator work during World War Two
17.	Steam turbine work for naval destroyers
18.	G.E. builds new marine engineering systems
19.	Development of ships with electric drive
20.	Describes work with large generators and motors
21.	1960s and 1970s blackouts in Northeast
22.	Explains cause of 1965 blackout
23.	Importance of load shedding schemes
24.	1977 blackout in New York City
25.	Relationship between load shedding and increased voltage
26.	Explains voltage regulation
27.	Other blackout causes
28.	Writes paper on problems with series capacitors
29.	Studies instabilities with series capacitors
30.	Uses mechanical differential analyzer for solving system equations
31.	Describes various network analyzers
32.	The shift to digital analyzing
33.	Criticizes computer simulations for problem solving purposes
34.	Enduring communications problems despite computer help
35.	Chairs 1940s AIEE subcommittee meetings on large-scale computing devices
36.	Recalls first subcommittee hearings on computing devices
37.	Colleagues in the AIEE
38.	Changes in Fellow selections after AIEE-IRE merger into IEEE
39.	Works on supercharger development for airplanes during World War Two
40.	Researches aerodynamics and ship propulsion
41.	Experience with difference analyzer problems
42.	Consulting engineering experiences
43.	Explains consulting problems
44.	Retires after nearly forty-seven years at G.E.
45.	Opinions about retirement
46.	Post-retirement consulting work
47.	Takes consulting job from Westinghouse
48.	Consulting ties with Hong Kong and Taiwan
49.	Involvement with international power systems engineering
50.	Declining IEEE emphasis on technical issues
51.	Calculates power generation's growth curve
52.	Criticizes lack of attention paid to nuclear power in U.S.
53.	Laments American reactions to nuclear power
54.	Believes nuclear power no more dangerous than other kinds of power
55.	End of interview