Concepts - Discussions

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NEWS RELEASE

The Hall of Fame for Engineering, Science and Technology is on its way to the Internet

International Technology Institute, ITI, is announcing, that the ten level worldwide Hall of Fame for Engineering, Science and Technology, HOFEST, for which ITI acts as Secretariat, will not be built as a physical structure anywhere, but it will be constructed on the Internet.

ITI's Founders have long promoted the concept, that Engineers, Scientists and Technologists, ESTs, and related organizations and enterprises are not only utilizing existing resources to generate wealth for Society, but continually create new resources for the purpose. They should receive fair recognition.

All governments and governmental organizations, all corporations, all academic and professional organizations, schools, museums, libraries, all technical societies are invited to participate in the construction and in the operational process of the HOFEST system. They are all invited to appoint representatives into various committees of the appropriate electing units. Most activities will naturally be conducted over the Internet.

The HOFEST concept is as old as ITI itself, which was formed in 1976. The first formal inductions begun in 1982, during the International Congress on Technology and Technology Exchange, ICTTE82. The first formal summary of the concept was published as Paper No. HOF-1.1, a free copy of which can be requested from ITI.

A limited outline and an incomplete list of inductees can be seen at www.itiworld.org which was initially prepared by at then 15 year old Michael Mandel, courtesy of Aris Melissaratos, past Vice President for Westinghouse Science and Technology Center.

HOFEST can be imagined to look like a sharply pointed, but very broad based ten level Eiffel Tower. At the very top is the World Supreme Level. Only one person per year, like Leonardo daVinci, can be elected into this level from the entire world. Next below is the World Superior Level with a limit of ten inductees per year, like Thomas Alva Edison or Henry Ford. No living person can be ever elected into these two levels. Next down is the World Level, the highest level possible for any living person. The limit is one hundred inductions per year from the entire world, like Luis W Alvarez or Edward Teller. At the ground level is level 1. Any organization or locality having at least 10 ESTs can act as its own electing unit, electing one person per year into Level 1 of HOFEST. Next up is Level 2, which must have at least 100 ESTs, limited to 2 inductees per year. And so on up and up. Each lower level inductee becomes an automatic candidate for the next higher level. In the middle are the National and Regional Levels, where population size dominates. For example the USA National Level is just below the World Level. One per ten million population can be inducted into this level each year. To date, due to lack of a national electorate, those who received the National Medal of Technology, NMT, from the President of the USA were automatically considered as candidates into this level. Various Disciplinary Segments can be set up, covering most levels.

As an alternate view, you may think about HOFEST as a collection of giant and small bulletin boards, distributed around the world, on which all organizations (electing units) may display the awards they bestow on their members, according to their own rules, allowing others to display their own also. No organization is told how to run their own business - or how to select their own heroes. HOFEST provides a unified system by which others, outside of the particular organization, may recognize and appreciate the achievements of those they do not normally associate with. In that respect, the entire EST community should join forces to promote itself to the general public. Public perception of Engineering, Science and Technology should be influenced by this movement.

For further information contact Dr. I. S. Tuba, ITI's Executive Director at itihq@aol.com

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Additional contact information:

International Technology Institute
P.O.Box 23166
San Diego, CA 92193-3166

Ph: 858-279-0483
Fx: 858-279-0493