Technology, Engineering, and Economics

From the foreword by Howard W. Johnson: Philip Sporn's long and distinguished career has been at the interface of economics, engineering, and management. His accomplishments as an engineer, an engineering manager, and finally as an executive, have been marked by an innovative approach to problems and by an insight into the real needs of the corporation and, more broadly, the human environment... It is quite appropriate, then, that the lectures included in this volume should span the wide spectrum of interests from science and technology to financial management and public administration that was reflected by Mr. Sporn's experience in the power industry... The lectures move beyond the detailed history of a particular power project to the implication of engineering for a society characterized by rapid change and by a close interdependence of basic concepts, institutional structures, and ideas. His discussion of the OVEC power project demonstrates the need for a holistic approach to large-scale problem-solving. It shows that it is not enough to possess scientific and technical capability without the tools of economic analysis and without the depth of social perspective.