Memories of Richard C. Heidner

Professors who are still memorable:

Freshman Year (1935-36):

Louie Kallenberg, chemistry. He threw a chunk of limestone on the lecture table and said, "Gentlemen, this is a chunk of Door County." When telling my dad about the incident, he commented, "Louie Kallenberg was my professor in chemistry and he was an old man then." I believe that dad took chemistry at UW about 1910.

Sophomore Year (1936-37):

Professor Sokolnikoff, calculus, was an excellent communicator.

Professor Pat Hyland, machine design and also my advisor, told us, "When you start junior year, tell your folks you'll see them at Christmas, spring vacation and the end of the year. Tell your girlfriend Saturday night dates only. You will be fully occupied with studies." He was right!

Junior Year (1937-38):

Professor Kurt Wendt, mechanics of materials. Excellently organized presentations, lectures and lab. When I learned he had become dean of engineering, I felt he was a very wise choice, and I still do.

Professor Ben Elliott, thermodynamics. During the first class, my "light went on." This is how you organize and set-up and engineering problem -- given, find, solution. Wonderful teacher.

Professor [Leslie] Kelso, electrical engineering. All of a sudden there is a real world awaiting you that is a lot different from this nice, cozy, comfortable academic world you have been living in. The first assignment was a homework problem. My grade on the paper was a "0." Why? Answer: "I had to wade through all of your calculations to find the answer. Your boss is too busy to waste his time wading through all of that stuff to see if you got the answer he asked you to determine. Test grades ran from five to 20, a real shocker. I finally learned that he added all test grades up and didn't divide by anything. I got an A. For homework, he encouraged groups of students to work together and when we got stuck to call him for help, which was in the form of leading questions, not direct answers. Wonderful training for the real world. I owe him a lot.

Senior Year (1938-39):

Professor G.C. Wilson, SAE student chapter advisor. Excellent teacher (thermo). Inspired confidence. I was interested in automotive engineering so I spent a lot of time talking to him and learned a lot. He recommended me for a teaching assistant job at Purdue, which I got. I obtained my master's degree in engineering there. I also owe G.C. Wilson a lot.

General Comments:

I lived in the university's men's dorm (Tripp Hall) for all four years. As I remember it, room and board cost $360 a year.

My grades went from Cs as a freshman to As a senior. This was partially because the course content changed from general to more specifically what I was interested in, and partially because I became much better at identifying what was significant and what was background information or unimportant.

I consistently found that succeeding courses solidified preceding course knowledge. For example, when I finished calculus, I really felt I had mastered trigonometry.

My engineering education provided me with a comfortable income while I was working and in retirement. I enjoyed my work. It was rewarding. I have been awarded 22 patents, almost all of which were used for many years in profitable and useful products, which were more user friendly than similar products without the patented item. I retired at age 68.

Living your professional career based on the laws of science (mostly physics, in my case) provides an opportunity to work with true facts. These laws are subject to discovery (new facts), application and understanding. They are not subject to negotiation. So long as you can keep the lawyers out of the act, practicing your profession can be done on a totally honest basis.

While I was a student at UW, the law students paraded on St. Patrick's Day. The engineering students threw rotten eggs at the lawyers during the parade. I parked my car on the parade route with two bushels of rotten eggs in the trunk. (i.e., I was the ammunition train.) This was the start of my long-held low opinion of trial lawyers who contribute nothing to society. They are leaches who continue to destroy good stuff and the real gross national product.

Richard C. Heidner (BSME '39)