IEEE History Center: Arno Penzias Abstract

Penzias was born in 1933 in Munich, and received a B.S. from City College of New York in 1954, a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1962. Although his primary work has always been in research and management at Bell Labs, he has held appointments at Princeton, Harvard College Observatory, and Stony Brook. He was hired by Bell in 1961, became a radiophysics department head in 1972, and was named director of the Radio Research Laboratory in 1976. At the time of this interview in 1980, Penzias was Executive Director of Bell Labs.

Penzias focuses on social issues such as the reciprocal obligations of scientists, commerce, and society. He discusses government regulation, the social effects of technology, and issues of privacy related to new technologies. Another significant theme is affirmative action and Bell Labs' efforts to recruit diverse researchers. The interview touches on Penzias' flexible management of creative talent, the issue of women in science, and the question of racial discrimination in the workplace.

Table of Contents

2	Affirmative action progress in Bell Labs
3	Support beyond money needed for non-traditional students
4	Mentors for women, lack of
6	Unqualified job counselors
7	Girls typecast away from science
7	Corporate responsibility to promote non-traditionals
8	Less turnover, Bell research so complex
8	Future of Bell Labs after corporate division
10	Favors customer-funded Bell research
11	Fluorocarbons, ozone, and cleaning electronics
14	Phone administration harder than it looks, resents outside interference
16	Phones unappreciated, until they go dead
16	Phone increasingly connects everything
17	Phone intertwined with everything, hard to target regulation
17	Long Lines go competitive
18	Phones here to stay, can be rearranged, but not restarted from scratch
19	U.S. communications system better than most
19	Future direction depends more on customer desires than technology
20	Technology replacing demeaning jobs
21	Corporations not responsible for unemployment
21	Urban renewal critiqued; brownstones safer than high-rises
22	Blame social choices, not technology, for problems
23	But technology still has social implications
23	Term "boy" as demeaning
24	Innovation necessary, despite job displacement
25	More intelligence, innovation, needed to answer social costs
26	Computer records' threat to privacy
26	Dangers of the misinterpretation of data
27	Privacy threats exaggerated -- mega-centralized computers unlikely
28	Predicts dispersed computers, not forever more centralized
29	Dispersed computers more marketable, and private
30	Bell striving for individualized computing, personal control
31	Less technological governments can be even more repressive
32	Computer privacy marketable
33	Unbreakable codes for phone privacy
33	Technology of phone encryption
35	Market can provide many little computers, instead of one Big Brother
36	Individuals empowered by personal computing
37	Black box phone encryption, independent of phone company
37	Wire tapping hurts profits, discourages phone use
37	Bell wants happy customers, is willing to sell privacy
38	Phones allow lifestyle options -- father working at home
38	Computers must be able to talk to each other
39	Software complexity will put ceiling on computer size
39	Democratic computing requires intuitive software interfaces
39	Dispersed computing will require standardized protocols
40	Dispersed computing an easy sell -- people hate bigness
41	Tandem computer experimentation -- no central processor, many
42	Research can give society the option of decentralization and privacy
43	Technology essential to growth and justice -- shrinking pie's never divided equally
44	Interface development necessary for individuals to be empowered by computers
45	Privacy and electronic cash
46	Voice recognition software
47	Slow response because of corporate size
48	Bell isn't the government, is constrained by customer preferences
49	Like trucks beating rail, small processors may beat huge
50	Creative, non-conventional researchers sought
50	Curiosity not totally destroyed in schools
51	Objects to inflexible management style
52	Variety in personnel improves creativity
53	Managing creative people -- graduations of supervision
54	Solitary, individual initiative created UNIX
56	Expert status and public dialogue
57	Personal opinions vs. obligations to Bell
58	Caring human individuals compose Bell institution
58	Misunderstood on race
59	Public should know that phone company creativity is fragile
60	Balancing managerial and scientific work
61	Gets excited when he talks
61	Fellowship advancement programs for women
62	Business vs. academic salaries
62	Supply of PhDs.
63	More on salaries
63	Society, FCC, have legitimate right to regulate
64	Hopes legislators understand importance of independence in research
65	Necessary regulation
66	Competition's effect on revenue sources
66	Deregulation won't necessarily hurt development
67	Wish-fulfillment causes research mistakes
68	Scientists expected to be perfect
68	Social experiments more disastrous than scientific
69	Three Mile Island blamed for high death rates, but real cause was black mortality in Harrisburg
70	Technological fixes demanded for human problems
70	Resident inspectors needed at nuclear plants
71	Education beats down creativity
71	Unsure if he should be speaking outside of field, like William Shockley
71	Bell Labs has diverse minds
72	Uniformity hurts creativity
73	Research results unpredictable -- society, not scientists, must decide what is harmful
74	Technology's power often overestimated
75	Basic research must continue in U.S., even if manufacturing goes overseas
75	Too much litigation
76	Black children and lead paint
77	Unnecessary repainting -- lead was from cars, not walls
77	Ecologists who prefer coal to nuclear
78	Centralized health statistics needed
79	Boulder, CO more radioactive than Three Mile Island
80	Granite buildings more radioactive than nuclear power plants
80	Knowledgeable, calculated risks
81	End of interview