What You Should Know About Electronics

What You Should Know About Electronics Electronics is the branch of physics that deals with the emission and effects of electrons and the operation of electronic devices. How Is Electronics Different From Electricity? Many devices, from toasters to vacuum cleaners, use electricity as an energy source. These electrical devices transform the electrical current they receive through your wall socket and transform it into another form of energy. Your toaster, for example, transforms electricity into heat. Your lamp transforms electricity into light. Your vacuum cleaner transforms electrical energy into motion that drives the vacuums motor. Electronic devices, however, do more. Instead of transforming electrical energy into heat, light, or motion, they actually manipulate the electrical current itself. In this way, electronic devices can add meaningful information to the current itself. Thus, an electric current can be manipulated to carry sound, video, or data. Most devices are both electrical and electronic. For example, your brand new toaster may transform electricity into heat and also manipulate the current using a thermostat that maintains a specific temperature. Similarly, your cell phone needs a battery to provide electrical energy, but it also manipulates electricity to transmit sound and pictures. History of Electronics While we think of electronics as a modern field, it has actually been around for well over 100 years. In fact, the first manipulation of electrical currents for practical purposes began in 1873 (with Thomas Edison). The first major breakthrough in electronics occurred in 1904, with the invention of the vacuum tube (also called the thermionic valve). Vacuum tubes made possible the invention of TV, radio, radar, telephones, amplifiers, and even microwave ovens. In fact, they were used throughout most of the 20th century and are even in use in some places today. Then, in 1955, IBM introduced a calculator that used transistor circuits without vacuum tubes. It contained no fewer than 3,000 individual transistors. Digital technology (in which information is shared using a combination of 0s and 1s) became easier to design with the use of transistors. Miniaturization has led to a revolution in digital technology. Today, we think of electronics as relating to high tech fields such as computer design, information technology, and design of electronic devices. The reality, however, is that electricity and electronics are still very closely allied. As a result, even auto mechanics must have a good understanding of both fields. Preparing for a Career in Electronics The field of electronics is vast, and electronic engineers generally make a very good living. If you are planning to go to college, you may choose to major in electronic engineering, or you may choose a university where you can specialize in a particular field such as aerospace, telecommunications, or manufacturing. In any case, you will be learning about the physics and practical uses of electricity and electromagnetism. If you are not going the college route, you have several good options in the field of electronics. Electricians, for example, are often trained through apprenticeship programs; todays electricians must also be up to date with electronics, as most projects require a working knowledge of both. Other options include electronic sales, manufacturing, and technician jobs.

Anne Truitt, Sculptor of Minimalist Form and Color

Anne Truitt, Sculptor of Minimalist Form and Color Anne Truitt was an American artist and writer, known for her work as a minimalist sculptor and, to a lesser extent, painter. She is perhaps most widely regarded for Daybook, a volume of the artist’s diaries, reflecting on the life of an artist and mother. Fast Facts: Anne Truitt Occupation: Artist and writerBorn: March 16, 1921 in Baltimore, MarylandDied: December 23, 2004 in Washington, DC, USAKey Accomplishments: Early contributions to minimalist sculpture and the publication of Daybook, which reflected on her life as both artist and mother Early Life Anne Truitt was born Anne Dean in Baltimore in 1921 and grew up in the town of Easton, on the Eastern shore of Maryland. The stark coastal style- rectangles of colored doors against white clapboard facades- influenced her later work as a minimalist. Her family life was comfortable, as her parents were well-to-do (her mother came from a family of Boston ship owners). She lived happily and freely as a child, though she was not unaffected by the poverty of which she caught glimpses in her town. Later in life, she would inherit a modest sum of money from her family, which financed her art practice- though not so much as to keep finances from being a constant worry for the artist. Truitt’s mother, to whom she was very close, died while Truitt was still in her twenties. Her father suffered from alcoholism, and though she pitied him, she wrote that she â€Å"decided† to love him despite his faults. This strength of will is characteristic of the artist and is seen in her staunch determination to continue in her work, even at times when her money dwindled and her pieces did not sell. After her first year at Bryn Mawr College, Truitt came down with a case of appendicitis, which her doctors handled poorly. The result, Truitt was told, was infertility. Though this prognosis ultimately proved to be false, and Truitt was able to have three children later in life, she attributes her career as an artist to this temporary sterility, largely because her focus was on her art at the time in her life when most women were expected to raise children. Early Career in Medicine After returning to Bryn Mawr to finish her undergraduate degree, Truitt decided to begin a career in psychiatric medicine. She felt a duty to help those who struggled in their lives. Though she was admitted to Yale to begin a Master’s in psychology, she turned down her scholarship and instead began work as a researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Already successful by the age of twenty-four, Truitt had a revelation one afternoon and immediately quit her position. She turned her back on a career in medicine, recounting later that something within her knew she had to be an artist. An Artist's Calling Anne married James Truitt, a journalist, in 1948. The two traveled often, following James work. While living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Truitt began to take art classes, and excelled in sculpture. When the couple moved to Washington, D.C., Truitt continued her art practice by enrolling in classes at the Institute of Contemporary Art. On a trip to New York in 1961 with her good friend Mary Meyer, Truitt visited the â€Å"American Abstractionists and Imagists† show at the Guggenheim. The experience would ultimately change her career. As she was rounding one of the museum’s famed curved ramps, she came upon a Barnett Newman â€Å"zip† painting and was stunned by its size. â€Å"I had never realized you could do that in art. Have enough space. Enough color, she later wrote. The visit to New York marked a change in her practice, as she transitioned into sculpture which relied on pared-down painted wooden surfaces to convey their subtle impact. The family moved to Japan in 1964, where they stayed for 3 years. Truitt never felt comfortable in Japan, and ended up destroying all her work from this period. Anne Truitts column sculptures.   annetruitt.org The Truitts divorced in 1969. After the divorce, Truitt lived in Washington, D.C. for the remainder of her life. Her separation from the art world of New York perhaps accounts for her lack of critical acclaim compared to her minimalist contemporaries, but that is not to say she existed outside of New York completely. She befriended artist Kenneth Noland and later took over his studio near Dupont Circle when he moved to New York. Through Noland, Truitt was introduced to Andrà © Emmerich, Noland’s New York gallerist, who eventually became Truitt’s gallerist. Work Truitt is known for her stark minimalist sculptures set directly on the floor of the gallery space, which mimic in verticality and proportion the shape of a human body. Unlike many of her fellow minimalist artists like Walter de Maria and Robert Morris, she did not shy away from color, but in fact made it the central point of interest in her work. The subtlety of color is applied precisely to the sculptures, often painstakingly and in as many as forty layers. Truitt was also notable in her studio practice, as she sanded, prepped, and painted each of her works without the help of a studio assistant. The structures themselves she sent out to a lumber yard close to her home to be made to her specifications. Daybook and Diaries Following retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1973 and the Corcoran Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1974, Truitt began to write a diary, seeking to make sense of the increased publicity her previously quietly shown art began to receive. How was she to understand herself as an artist now that her work was consumed and criticized by so many eyes other than her own? The result was Daybook, later published in 1982, which begins as an exploration of this newfound critical regard for her work, but ends up being an exploration of an artist’s day-to-day, as she struggles to find the money to continue her practice, all the while supporting her children. Due to Daybook’s critical success, Truitt would publish two more volumes of diaries. The language of the diaries is often poetic with frequent forays into Truitt’s past. Though she gave up a career in psychology, it is clearly still present in her thinking, as her analysis of her life and career relies heavily on the interpretation of her psychological motivations and the impact of her youth on her personality. Legacy Anne Truitt died in Washington, D.C. in 2004 at the age of 83. She was honored posthumously by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington in 2009 with a major retrospective. Her estate is managed by her daughter Alexandra Truitt, and her work is represented by Matthew Marks Gallery in New York City. Sources Munro, E. (2000). Originals: American Women Artists. New York: Da Capo Press.Truitt, A. (1982). Daybook. New York, Scribner.