IEEE Spectrum November, 2014 - 4

BacK StorY_
editor in chief

Susan Hassler, s.hassler@ieee.org
executive editor

Glenn Zorpette, g.zorpette@ieee.org
editorial director, digital

Harry Goldstein, h.goldstein@ieee.org
managing editor

Elizabeth A. Bretz, e.bretz@ieee.org
senior art director

Mark Montgomery, m.montgomery@ieee.org
senior editors

Stephen Cass (Resources), cass.s@ieee.org
Erico Guizzo (Digital), e.guizzo@ieee.org
Jean Kumagai, j.kumagai@ieee.org
Samuel K. Moore (News), s.k.moore@ieee.org
Tekla S. Perry, t.perry@ieee.org
Philip E. Ross, p.ross@ieee.org
David Schneider, d.a.schneider@ieee.org
deputy art director Brandon Palacio, b.palacio@ieee.org
photography director Randi Klett, randi.klett@ieee.org
associate art director Erik Vrielink, e.vrielink@ieee.org
associate editors

Ian Chant, i.chant@ieee.org
Rachel Courtland, r.courtland@ieee.org
Celia Gorman (Multimedia), celia.gorman@ieee.org
Eliza Strickland, e.strickland@ieee.org
assistant editor Willie D. Jones, w.jones@ieee.org
senior copy editor Joseph N. Levine, j.levine@ieee.org
copy editor Michele Kogon, m.kogon@ieee.org
editorial researcher Alan Gardner, a.gardner@ieee.org

Strangers on a Bus

executive producer, spectrum radio
assistant producer, spectrum radio

our na lists must sometimes go to great lengths in order
to track down an interesting subject for a story. But Bill Glovin
[above, left] didn't have to go far to meet Joe Kinney [above,
right], the man who keeps the memory of inventor Nikola
Tesla alive at the New Yorker Hotel. He just took a bus home.
As described in Glovin's article "Nikola Tesla Slept Here,"
Kinney is the chief engineer of the New York City hotel
where Tesla, the great electrical inventor and pioneer, died,
nearly destitute, in 1943. Kinney takes a bus home every day from
Manhattan to the town of Nutley, N.J., and Glovin, after a job change
last year, started taking the same bus to the same stop. The two
didn't interact, however, until Glovin and Kinney found themselves
deposited at their stop during a downpour: Glovin called his wife to
pick him up and offered Kinney a ride.
With the ice broken, the two began chatting during their
commutes, but it was months before Kinney mentioned his
fascination with Nikola Tesla. As it turned out, Glovin was
acquainted with Michael Geselowitz of the IEEE History Center,
and he thought someone at the IEEE would be interested in
Kinney's work to commemorate Tesla's residence at the New
Yorker Hotel. Geselowitz connected Glovin with IEEE Spectrum,
and Kinney took Glovin on a tour of the hotel where Tesla spent
the last 10 years of his life. Since then, the men have become firm
commuter buddies: "He's just a fascinating guy," Glovin says.
"Also, he fixes everybody's stuff in the neighborhood, so that's a
good reason to be friends with him." n

Nov 2014

North americaN

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administrative assistants

Ramona Foster, r.foster@ieee.org
Nancy T. Hantman, n.hantman@ieee.org
intern Neel V. Patel
contributing editors

Evan Ackerman, Mark Anderson, John Blau, Robert N.
Charette, Peter Fairley, Tam Harbert, Mark Harris, David
Kushner, Robert W. Lucky, Paul McFedries, Prachi Patel,
Richard Stevenson, Lawrence Ulrich, Paul Wallich
director, periodicals production services Peter Tuohy
editorial & Web production manager Roy Carubia
senior electronic layout specialist Bonnie Nani
spectrum online
product manager, digital Shannan Brown
Web production coordinator Jacqueline L. Parker
multimedia production specialist Michael Spector
editorial advisory board

Susan Hassler, Chair; Gerard A. Alphonse, Francine D. Berman,
Jason Cong*, Sudhir Dixit, Limor Fried, Kenneth Y. Goldberg,
Bin He, Robert Hebner, Chenming Hu*, Grant Jacoby,
Christopher J. James, Norberto Lerendegui, John P. Lewis,
Steve Mann, Jacob Østergaard, Umit Ozguner, John Rogers,
Jonathan Rothberg, Umar Saif, Gaurav Sharma, Takao Someya,
Sergio Verdú, Jeffrey M. Voas, Kazuo Yano, Larry Zhang*,
Yu Zheng, Kun Zhou
* Chinese-language edition
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Joe Kinney

11.14

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum November, 2014