'Doc' Losh Sees Student's Dream Fulfilled

The Ann Arbor News, Sunday, June 26,1977 D-11

'Doc’ Losh Sees Student’s Dream Fulfilled

By Larry Bush

"Doc Losh was the best teacher I ever had teach me anything,”  a University of Illinois astronomer said.

Dr. Kenneth M. Yoss made that remark in introducting Dr. Hazel M. Losh, U-M professor-emeritus of astronomy, at dedication ceremonies a week ago today for the Fred L. Yoss Memorial Solar System Model at Jackson Community College.

The U-M "peoples' astronomer," who has made that science understandable to the layman through the news media, was the main speaker at the event which marked the fulfillment of a dream of her former student's late father. 

Standing beside a marble model of the sun near the new Michigan Space Center with the planets of our solar system marching off across the campus at scaled distances, Prof. Losh traced the historay of astronomy and the discovery and naming of the planets.

"FROM THE VERY dawn of intelligence, ancient people looked upon the heavens and they wondered, and they wondered, and they wondered." she began as a strong wind ruffled her notes and disheveled her hair.

She noted that early in history people observed there were "big, shiny objects in the sky that looked like stars (suns)," but unlike the stars they moved.  These, of course were the planets of our solar system.

Then, nearly 500 years ago, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus shocked the world with the announcement that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun, destroying the earth-centered concept of the universe.

Astronomers concentrated on the planets, their orbits and phases, with such famous scientists as Denmark's Johannes Kepler and Britain's Sir Isaac Newtom adding to knowledge of their behavior, Prof. Losh observed.

More recently, astronomers turned their attention to more distant objects in the sky, such as quasars, black holes and the galaxies, but "the space program brought us back to the planets," she said.

THE U-M ASTRONOMER mentioned the recent Viking spacecraft to Mars missions, and the remarkable feat of being able to send a vehicle to the "red planet" and land it at a predetermined location on a predetermined date. "We have gotten to know this planet (Mars) very well, and it has changed our idea of the universe a great deal," she added.

"Space astronomy has brought astronomy much closer to the people- much closer to the ordinary person" through news media accounts of the manned and unmanned feats of the space program, Prof. Losh said.

Dr. Freeman D. Miller, U-M professor of astronomy, and his wife, Marie, were on hand for the ceremonies, as was Dr. Robert Yoss, widely-known Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon and former U-M Medical School professor who is another son of the late Jackson teacher and author for whom the Solar System Model is named, and his wife.

Other speakers included Jackson Community College President Harold V. Sheffer, Dr. Norman P. Taylor, Jackson Public Schools director of secondary education, and Mrs. Charlotte Yoss, widow of the man honored.

Mrs. Yoss summed up her late husband's objectives by saying that "Fred wanted to do something for the community and something of value to education."

IN A STATEMENT prior to his death a couple of years ago, Mr. Yoss outlined why a Solar System Model would fulfill his objectives.

"Many children, and adults as well, have been confused and misled by pictures and models of our planetary system.  Although very useful in teaching the basic facts about our sun and the planets, they (typical teaching devices) are so far off scale as to create a distorted mental picture of sizes and distances involved.

"There is a very good reason for such teaching devices being off scale- no book is large enough to present a true scale picture nor room large enough to house a model planetarium which could truly demonstrate the enormous distances between the heavenly bodies," he wrote.

Through the aid of groups in the community, a host of friends, and his family who raised funds for the project, that dream became a reality last Sunday.

It was only fitting that "Doc" Losh, who has done so much to simplify the science of astronomy for the benefit of the public, was called on to dedicate a project envisioned by a non-scientist that will make the science of astronomy more understandable to the layman for years to come.

'Revolutionary' Change Forecast

With the Japanese four to five years ahead of the United States in industrial automation, according to some experts, a new study forecasting "revolutionary" technological change in American manufacturing is, to say the least, encouraging.  But it also will mean job loss in some skilled trades.

In fact, the research, conducted by the U-M Institute of Science and Technology's Industrial Development Division with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, has produced shock waves that are resulting in prominent trade journals reporting on it.

Developed by Donald N. Smith, director of the U-M Institute of Scince and Technology's Industrial Development Division, the study, which employs the Deplhi method, forecasts greater use of automation, computers, lasers and such to increase manufacturing productivity in the United States.  Industry leaders are pricking up their ears.

FAR FROM BEING an academic exercise, the researchers used controlled elicitation and selective feedback in questioning leaders in the machine tool, equipment supply, automotive, aircraft and aerospace, and electrical machinery and electronic systems industries, as well as consulting engineers on the future impact of science and technology on manufacturing.

"There is increasing evidence to indicate that future technological changes in manufacturing industries will be far more revolutionary that in the past," authors Smith, and Profs. Bertil Colding and Lester V. Colwell of the U-M Collage of Engineering, say in the research report's introduction.

"Many factors, such as radically new technologies like the computer, the electro processes, and also the growing pressures of worldwide competition, suggest the changing patters," they add.

The authors note that "future predictions based solely on the technical superiority of new methods and equipment can be misleading if not down-right wrong," because of variables such as market conditions, personal preferences and available funding that are not taken into account in intuitive forecasts, trend extrapolation and simple polling.

USUING THE CONTROLLED feedback processes of the Delphi method, however, the researchers have come up with a large number of predictions that are making industrial leaders take notice.  A few selected forecasts are as follows:

1980 - "Cutting of abrasive plastics and materials like asbestos will be done by liquid jets at high velocities" instead of by conventional metal tools.

1982 - "The expanding use of computerized controls will permit prime contractors to transmit workpiece configurations via leased wire to subcontract shops and thereby reduce or eliminate the use of blueprints by 10 per cent."

(Smith says this will have an impact on drafting and will reduce the number of draftsmen employed "dramatically.")

1982 - "Approximately 10 per cent of existing NC (numerical control or automated) machines will be connected to a dispatch or control computer," as compared to less than 1 per cent today.

1982 - "Approximately 20 per cent of the total manufacturing systems will be equipped with diagnostic sensors and associated software for implementing indicated changes or action," as compared to less than 5 per cent today.

(This will have an impact on community college training programs, Smith says.)

1985 - "Computerized capacity planning and shop floor control systems will be used by at least 10 per cent of the plants in the manufacturing industry," as compared to about a half of one per cent today, or nearly a 10-fold increase.

1985 - "Laser technology will be used for selected cutting and welding operations by at least 25 per cent of the firms within the industries represented by the panelists," as compared to less than 5 per cent at present.

1985 - "The laser will be used extensively for in-process control of accuracy, assuming that the associated machine tool control systems are available for no more than 10 per cent additional costs."

1985 - "Noise levels of machine tools will be reduced by 50 per cent."

(Smith says the technology is available and by the time panelists feel they will be able to make the investment.)

1986 - "Computerized systems, able to predict machining performance (tool life, accuracy, surface finish, productivity) with sufficient accuracy for start-up purposes for any combination of tool materials, work materials and machine, will become a reality." (This means putting the tool and die maker's intelligence into the computer.  Today machinists do 99 per cent of this work, Smith says.)

1987 - "The machinability data bases necessary for computerized manufacturing planning will be shared."

(This means that lending industrialists on the panel see an end to some of the secrecy manufacturers employ to maintain "the competitive edge" through sharing, Smith says.)

There are many more projections, all of which point in the direction of the fully-automated factory of the future.