MODULE

ENGLISH FOR
ENGINEERING
II
INNOVATIONS IN TECHNOLOGY

Faculty Department Meeting Code Prepared by

01
FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL F021700002 TRIDATA HANDAYANI, ST, MBA
ENGINEERING ENGINEERING

Abstract Competency
This module discusses about Students are able to talk about stages
Accidental Discoveries in Technology, of process.
grammar, and reading smart oil fields.
ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERIES IN
TECHNOLOGY

Pure chance, or incompetence, depending on your point of view, has led to some significant
scientific discoveries in the past. These accidental science discoveries are proof positive of
that.

1. X-Ray (Wilhelm Roentgen)

X-Rays are the classic accidental scientific discovery. Whilst studying cathode ray tubes, one
German physicist, Wilhelm Roentgen, managed to discover X-Rays inadvertently. He noticed
that when the tube was on some nearby crystals omitted a strange fluorescent glow.

He experimented with some shielded of the tube to see if it would have any effect on the
phenomenon. He correctly surmised that the tube must be omitting some kind of new ray and
set out to see if he could block it.

He first tried some heavy black paper, but this was utterly ineffectual. Wilhelm then worked a
series of other thicker and denser materials and found, to his surprise, that these too had no
effect.

He quickly noted that the rays appeared to be able to pass through most objects but left a
telltale shadow from more solid things, like bones and metal. In a famous experiment in 1895,
he used his wife's hand to produce the very first X-Ray image of the human skeleton.

His discovery would set the scientific world alight and chance medical diagnosis forever. And
all this by pure chance - and a little ingenuity on Wilhelm's part, of course.

Source: Albert Londe/Wikimedia Commons

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2. Velcro was not an intentional discovery (George de Mestral)

In 1941, one Swiss engineer, George de Mestral had gone for a walk and made an exciting
find. He wondered why Burdock seeds seem to cling so easily to his coat and his dog's fir.

Taking a close look at the seeds, he noted that they had tiny burrs. These little structures were
the secret behind there incredible sticky ability.

Although he hadn't intentional set out to design a new kind of fastening system he decided to
attempt to replicate the effect himself. This would lead to the invention of what we now know
as Velcro.

After some trial and error, he settled on the use of nylon and polyester and patented his design
in 1955.

The name itself is derived from the words velour ("velvet") and crochet ("hook") in French. It
would become the name for the product and the company he would found that still makes it
today.

Source: klndonnelly/Flickr

3. The Microwave was a complete accident (Percy Spencer)

The humble microwave was actually discovered by pure chance. A Raytheon engineer, Percy
Spencer, was working on some radar-related technology when he noticed something
interesting.

In 1946, whilst conducting work on a new kind of vacuum tube, he noticed the chocolate bar
in his pocket melted quicker than one might expect.

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This clearly intrigued him, and he soon realized it must be something to do with the tube he
was working on. He played around with the tube by aiming it at other objects like eggs and
popcorn kernels and noticed they seemed to become heated.

Percy quickly realized it must be something to do with microwave energy the tube emitted.
Soon after, Raytheon filed a patent for the first "Microwave" in 1945. This led to the
development of the first functional Microwave oven which weighed 340 kg. Called the
"RadaRange" it stood at almost 1.8 meters tall. The first countertop ones were later introduced
in 1965.

Source: Acroterion/Wikimedia Commons

4. Penicillin was a complete fluke (Alexander Fleming)

Penicillin is probably the most famous example of an accidental scientific discovery. The great
Sir Alexander Fleming noticed, in 1928, a strange growth on one of his Petri dishes.

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The venerable Professor of Bacteriology had been growing cultures of Staphylococcus
bacteria at the time. This curious growth appeared to prevent the bacteria from developing in
its immediate vicinity.

He later made a pure culture of the strange substance and found it was actually a form of
Penicillium mold.

Fleming would later coin the term "Penicillin" to describe the filtrate of a broth culture of the
mold. After some further work, it was soon realized that this could have some vital disinfectant
applications.

The first official use of Penicillin as a cure was performed in 1930 by Cecil George Paine.
Penicillin would quickly open up the era of antibiotics and save countless lives.

Source: Rajitha Ranasinghe/Flickr

5. Super glue is another famous unintentional scientific discovery (Harry Coover)

Super Glue or rather Cyanoacrylate, was an accidental discovery during the Second World
War. Its discoverer, Harry Coover Junior, was actually trying to find a way of making clear
plastic gun sights.

Whilst experimenting with a class of chemicals, called acrylates, he noticed his formula was
far too sticky for the intended application. He subsequently abandoned his research and
moved on.

A few years later, Coover was attempting to find another solution to produce heat-resistant
coatings for jet cockpits. He and his team decided to take another look at acrylates.

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During the research one of his team colleagues, Fred Joyner spread the compound between
two lenses for later examination under a refractometer. To their dismay the noticed the lenses
were firmly bonded together. This time, however, Coover immediately realized the commercial
potential for it. It was sold under the name Eastman #910 as an adhesive. The rest is history.

Source: Omegatron/Wikimedia Commons

6. Play-Doh was another famous accident (Noah McVicker)

Play-Doh wasn't originally intended as a child's toy. In fact, it was initially developed as a
wallpaper cleaner back in the 1930s.

The clay was first created by Noah McVicker and his brother for a soap company. Back then
coal fires tended to coat the walls, and well everything, in soot.

The clay, when rolled over a surface, was excellent at removing it. Later the rise of vinyl
wallpaper made cleaning up soot relatively easy by using just a wet sponge. This practically
rendered the cleaning clay useless overnight. But a nursery teacher heard that children liked
to model things using the same material.

After experimenting with her class she noticed that her students loved it. She told her brother-
in-law, Joe McVicker, who happened to work with his uncle, the inventor, Noah. The soap
company quickly realized the potential, pulled it as a cleaning product and began marketing it
as a child's toy.

Source: Depositphotos

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7. Vulcanized rubber was an accidental find (Charles Goodyear)

Early work on rubber had been somewhat underwhelming. It had the annoying tendency to
either freeze rock hard in winter or melt in the summer sun.

One man, Charles Goodyear, had been experimenting with this material for some time and
was struggling to overcome this materials shortcoming. After some more trial and error, he
decided to add some nitric acid that had been colored gold.

The substance turned black, and he threw it away, presuming it was yet another failure. But
after rescuing it later, Goodyear realized it had turned had on the outside. It was also smooth
and a lot drier than any previous attempt he'd tried. Despite this, it still melted under exposure
to high temperature.

He experimented further and added some sulfur. What happened after is a little murky, but
somehow some sulfur treated rubber landed on a stove. It didn't melt and instead charred and
became an almost leathery, heat-resistant, and waterproof, material. Vulcanized rubber was
born, and completely (well almost) by accident.

Source: Wheels/Wikimedia Commons

8. The Slinky was meant to be Battleship tech (Richard James)

Back during the Second World War, one Naval Engineer, Richard James, was working on
some tech for warships. He was attempting to figure out a way of using springs to prevent
sensitive instruments from being damaged by intense vibrations.

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Whilst working on some prototypes, he accidentally knocked one off a shelf. Instead of falling
ungracefully to the floor, it "stepped" down in a series of objects before re-coiling and standing
upright.

He was astonished and somewhat amused. Richard later told his wife that "I think if I got the
right property of steel and the right tension; I could make it walk."

He experimented with different types of steel wire and eventually developed a prototype that
neighborhood children adored playing with. His wife dubbed it the "Slinky" and the rest is, as
they say, history.

This wasn't something incredibly ground-breaking, it was an exciting and unexpected effect.

Source: Enochlau/Wikimedia Commons

9. Gunpowder was originally intended to extend life

In perhaps the purest definition of irony, the discovery of gunpowder had the opposite effect
to its intent. It was intended to be an elixir for endless life but has since been used to relieve
many of theirs.

In fact, the Chinese name for gunpowder is Huǒyào, which can be roughly translated to "fire
medicine" in English. Chinese alchemists in around the 9th Century AD were experimenting
with ways to develop a potion for immortality. During one attempt they mixed saltpeter, sulfur,
and charcoal but the result was very unexpected indeed.

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They soon found out that their new creation was pretty explosive, to say the least. It was
quickly realized that this new substance could be pretty useful indeed.

Gunpowder was initially used in fireworks and it would not be long before it was employed on
the battlefield in about 1000 AD. It has since changed the face of warfare beyond all
recognition.

Source: Mondebleu/Wikimedia Commons

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GRAMMAR

Grammar is the set of rules which help us to understand language. Grammar studies nouns,
pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, sentences, phrases,
clauses, interjections.

NOUNS

Nouns are 'thing' words like 'table and 'chair'. They are objects, things you see in everyday
life. Proper nouns are names of specific places, people, or other things like days of the week.
The name 'James' is a proper noun, as is 'Wednesday' and 'London'. Nouns can also be
abstract things, such as 'suffering' or 'happiness'.

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives describe nouns. For example, the pretty in "pretty bicycle" says that the bicycle is
pretty. In other words, the "pretty" is describing the bicycle. This can also happen with a place.
For example, the tall in "that's a tall building" is describing the building.

VERBS

Verbs are words that describe actions: "Ryan threw the ball". State: "I am worried". The basic
verb form is called the infinitive. The infinitive for existence is "to be". A famous example is the
speech of Hamlet: To be or not to be, that is the question.

Variations of the infinitive create verb tenses.

1. PRESENT TENSE: a. Simple Present Tense (S + V1 + Object)

b. Present Continous Tense (S+ to be + V-ing + Object)

c. Present Perfect Tense (S + have/has + V3)

d. Present Perfect Continous (S+ have/has + been + V-ing)

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Examples:

- I eat a banana

- You are singing

- I have gone

- He has been working

2. PAST TENSE : a. Simple Past Tense (S + have/has)

b. Past Continous Tense

c. Past Perfect Tense (S + had + V3)

d. Past Perfect Continous (S+ had + been + V-ing)

Examples:

- He went to Bandung
- I was watching TV when she phoned me
- She had just come after he got there
- They had been playing football for an hour when there was a terrible storm

3. FUTURE TENSE: a. Simple Future Tense (S + shall/will + V1)

b. Future Continous Tense (S+ shall/will + be + V-ing)

c. Future Perfect Tense (S + shall/will + have + V3)

d. Future Perfect Continous (S+ shall/will + have + been + V-ing)

Examples:

- We shall probably go to Bali in December

- He will be singing
- I will have bought a book, when you come here again next week
- She will have been playing basket for 2 years by the end of this year

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READING: Smart Oil Fields

Source: https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2017/09/smart-oil-fields-reservoir-emerging-
technologies/

Smart Oil Fields, a Reservoir of Emerging Technologies

CiSOFT, a joint venture between Chevron and USC Viterbi, creates innovative technologies
beyond oil

Big Data has become the oil of the new digital economy. So it’s not surprising that energy
companies, which rely on complex equipment for drilling and oil well maintenance, are in pole
position to benefit from automation fueled by advances in big data and machine learning.

According to a recent marketing report published by Credence Research, the Global Big Data
Services Market for the Oil and Gas Industry is expected to reach $33.5 billion by 2023. A
typical modern offshore oilfield has over 10,000 sensors pumping peta bytes of data per day
forming deeply intertwined cyber-physical systems that rely increasingly on algorithms and
robotics. As sensor technology becomes cheaper and wireless, there is a premium on the
ability to extract and manage large volumes of data in real time. Enter artificial intelligence.

In 2003, Donald Paul, then Chevron’s Chief Technology Officer saw this coming. He, and C.L.
Max Nikias, then USC Viterbi Dean, envisioned a paradigm in the world of engineering —
CiSOFT— the Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies, a joint venture between USC
and Chevron. Now headed to its 15-year-anniversary, the partnership has redefined the
relationship between academic and industrial research.

“As we were expanding sensor technology at Chevron, the Internet of Things (IoT) model was
a trend that wasn’t really accounted for,” Paul said. “We needed another structure and another
model. One that could produce hybrid engineers who live at the intersection of petroleum
engineering and information technology.”

With a number of interdisciplinary teams of researchers from USC and Chevron, respectively,
the center soon became the embodiment of Engineering + X, where the X is geosciences.
Paul later joined the ranks of USC Viterbi faculty, becoming Executive Director of the Energy
Institute. Meanwhile, CiSOFT continued to expand its research under the leadership of Dean

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Yannis Yortsos and Professor and Director of Petroleum Engineering, Iraj Ershaghi, the
center’s current director.

Converging Disciplines

CiSOFT hosts some of the first large-scale collaborations between electrical engineering and
computer science to tackle complex issues like production efficiency, safety, environmental
impact, data integration and automation.

It has attracted key figures in interdisciplinary research, such as Director of Center of Energy
Informatics (CEI) and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Viktor
Prasanna, a globally recognized expert in high performance computing. Prasanna is
developing a fundamental way of representing networks of very large cyber-physical systems
like oil fields and power grids.

“The key driving factor of this research is data science,” said Prasanna. “You can gather these
large amounts of data, but can you understand that data?”

Prasanna and his CiSOFT collaborators worked to develop a networked system that went
through data pulled from the oil rigs, coupled with weather, historical archives, market
conditions, and even tweets.

“If you’re going to institute things like machine learning you need history,” said Paul who
explained that the petroleum industry often collects data that can never be collected again.
“You drill a well and that location, those measurements that are cut through virgin rock can’t
be duplicated.”

Few modern industries can boast historical data that goes back to the turn of the 20th century.

Using sophisticated machine learning techniques, historical and real-time data integration and
automation, Prasanna’s team has given petroleum engineers and the machines they operate
the ability to respond immediately to problems as they arise. Solutions like this become
imperative when minute adjustments can mean preventing disastrous field accidents —
especially in highly sensitive operations such as underwater or coastal environments.

“It is a process of closing the loop. We take the data, make some sense out of it, make some
decisions, then we go back and control the operational system. ” Prasanna said. “The goal is
to ultimately get the computers in ‘the loop’ as much as possible.”

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In the future, Prasanna wants machines to not only collect and process data but also to start
making some of the decisions.

The beauty of these technologies for USC Viterbi faculty and students working on these
projects is their elastic utility.

“It has a way to adapt automatically and it scales,” Paul said. “It was developed for oil and gas
but has rolled over successfully to power grids.”

Smart oilfield research at CiSOFT will eventually spill into the rapidly approaching age of the
Internet of Things (IoT), when electronic devices will communicate with each other across an
internal network for a variety of industries and even home solutions.

The need for the integrated data solutions proposed by Prasanna may become invaluable for
a variety of applications where real time data processing is needed, from smart cars to open
heart surgery.

Hybrid Engineers

At CiSOFT, researchers and students get face-to-face interaction with engineers on the front
lines at Chevron. Some students are even recruited by the company upon graduation.
Similarly, Chevron sends specialists to teach at USC and Chevron employees take specialized
courses together with USC Viterbi students.

The training students receive is not only meant to turn them into high-caliber petroleum
engineers, but also to create the next generation of hybrid engineers looking to automate
complex processes in a variety of industries.

“I love a project where we solve a problem and in doing so, we create the technical basis to
expand to other problems,” said Paul who is now looking forward to CiSOFT Second
Generation focused on machine intelligence.

“The phenomenal thing about CiSOFT is that we’re training of new generations of students
how to automate complex process industries,” said USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos. “This
training goes deeper than oil and can be used in a variety of applications.”

It is a mix of industry and academia that, according to Ershaghi, works symbiotically:

“Chevron is interested to see that no matter how much technology develops, education goes
hand in hand.”

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Moreover, the science that comes out of the center benefits the science and engineering
community at large. Data mining methodologies as well as software and hardware innovations,
once patented, are published.

Many of these are currently working their way to the commercial market through other industry
partners at CiSOFT.

“We’ve graduated more than one hundred Ph.D,’s from the center,” Ershaghi said. “Not all of
them ended up working in the oil industry. Many go to work for internet giants such as
Facebook which also use multifaceted applications that involve Big Data.”

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REFERENCES

https://interestingengineering.com/9-incredible-accidental-science-and-technological-
discoveries-that-have-changed-the-world

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar

https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2017/09/smart-oil-fields-reservoir-emerging-technologies/
(Alya Rehman & Daniel Druhora | September 14, 2017)

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