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11/16/2005

LEDs in Motion

While I was on the cruise described in last week’s column,
William Oliver Baker died at age 90. Bill Baker was legendary
at Bell Labs, having served as its president and chairman of the
board and as an advisor to five U.S. presidents. In 1952, when I
interviewed for a job at Bell Labs, I found myself in a lab with
Baker and Robert Burns, an eminent scientist. I hadn’t heard of
either one of them. Burns asked me why I wanted to leave
NACA, my employer at the time. I responded with some remark
about being unhappy with my management there. I thought
Baker was asleep; his eyes were closed. However, he opened his
eyes and said, “Mr. Bortrum (he actually used my real name), if
you came to Bell Labs and were placed in charge, how would
you run this place?” I haven’t the foggiest idea what I replied
but I got the job offer! Three years later, Baker was made vice
president of research.

Baker was known for his curiosity and his broad knowledge
about virtually everything. I like to think he would have found
this week’s topic intriguing. Arriving at The Electrochemical
Society (ECS) meeting in Los Angeles last month, one of the
first people I encountered was a past president of the Society.
Dick greeted me with the comment that he was using my
“voluptuous” solubility curves in his classes at the University of
Illinois. He was referring to the plots in a paper I published in
1960 in the late Bell System Technical Journal (not only is the
Bell System long gone, but next week AT&T may be officially
swallowed up by one of its offspring, SBC). My solid solubility
curves for impurities in germanium and silicon were used
worldwide because they were helpful in determining how to
control the amounts of impurities in germanium or silicon
transistors or other devices.

I never considered those curves to be “voluptuous”. However,
the solubilities of most impurities increase with temperature and
then decrease to zero at the melting points of germanium or
silicon. This so-called “retrograde” solubility does give the
curves a distinct resemblance to the profile of Dolly Parton’s
upper torso viewed from the side. And it’s certainly true that
“voluptuous” is ‘in” these days. One cannot escape it in the
movies and on TV. Even on our cruise ship, with a largely older
clientele, there were examples of extreme cleavage on the pool
deck.

Coincidentally, on the plane to Los Angeles, I read an article
titled “The Physics of Bras” by Anne Casselman in the
November issue of Discover magazine. After publishing those
“voluptuous” curves, I spent a decade at Bell Labs working on
light emitting diodes (LEDs). My colleagues Ralph Logan and
Harry White used gallium phosphide crystals grown in my lab to
make the LEDs for the Bell System’s first working telephone
with LEDs in the pushbuttons. Now, LEDs are everywhere in
applications ranging from sneakers to stoplights in autos to
Times Square billboard displays. In the 1960s, we might have
anticipated many of today’s LED applications but certainly not
the one discussed in Casselman’s article.

But first, let’s consider the breast and its construction. The
article indicates that the engineering aspects of the breast are not
fully understood. The breast is made up of lobes, 15 to 20 of
them, and these lobes contain lobules ending in bulbs that
produce milk. A network of ducts connects the bulbs and the
bulbs and ducts are about the same size in all women, according
to the article. The size of the breast is principally determined by
the amount of fat and the presence of any implants. What seems
to be up in the air is the question as to what it is that keeps the
breast from sagging. Some experts believe that ligaments
weaving among the ducts are responsible while others think the
skin plays a major role.

Whatever the answer, for an increasing number of women, breast
size is a problem. The increase in obesity has also led to an
increase in voluptuosity (a new word?). Not only fast foods but
also breast implants and hormones associated with birth control
pills have raised the average bra size for American women from
34B to 36C. Almost a third of American women now wear D-
cup or larger bras. I was shocked to read that a pair of D-cup
breasts can weigh between 15 and 23 pounds! Casselman likens
this to “carrying around two small turkeys”! No wonder over
half of women who jog complain of breast pain.

How to address the problem for joggers or for that matter any
well-endowed woman? For joggers, there’s the problem of one
of Newton’s laws, that is force = mass x acceleration. In extreme
cases, Casselman says that a falling large breast slapping against
the chest can actually break the clavicle! More commonly, if the
bra has thin straps, the pressure can be enough to cause furrows
in the shoulders, pushing down on a nerve group running down
the arm and causing pain in certain fingers. The function of the
bra for the jogger is to support and limit the motion of the
breasts. The article states that two women were the first to come
up with the sports bra in 1977. They took apart two jockstraps,
sewed them together and voila! - the Jogbra.

This compression of the breasts is one approach to limiting their
movements during running or jogging. The other approach is the
encapsulation bra, which consists of large molded cups to
contain the breast. I gather neither of these approaches is really
comfortable for the wearers of the bras. Enter Julie Steele, a
biomechanist and Deirdre McGhee, a sports physiotherapist and
graduate student in Steele’s team at the University of
Wollongong in Australia. Steele’s group is studying the
movement of the breast during jogging with the goal of
designing a “smart” bra. If achieved, the smart bra would sense
whether the wearer is walking, sitting or running and tighten or
loosen appropriate parts of the bra accordingly.

Here’s where the LEDs come into play. The Aussie researchers
are studying the three-dimensional movements of the breast in
jogging women. They tag the subjects with LEDs on the breasts
and sternum and record the motions of the breasts and the body
for women jogging on treadmills without bras. Then, the joggers
are fitted with specially designed bras containing LEDs, sensors
to measure pressure on the shoulders and electrodes to measure
muscle activity. The LED movements are fed into a computer
system to analyze the breast movement. Even small breasts were
found to move vertically up to 3 inches during jogging, while
large breasts would sometimes jump out of the bra.

Apparently, the quest for a comfortable supportive bra is a very
competitive area. I certainly didn’t know that Maidenform had
an R&D department. Casselman quotes a Maidenform vice
president as saying that making a bra is like building a bridge,
with weight to be uplifted and supported. She says with large
breasts that challenge grows “dramatically”. Apparently, the
Australian researchers have made some progress but patent and
competitive considerations preclude them revealing details now.

One of the more facetious arguments against intelligent design is
the fact that men have breasts. I’m wondering if, with aging and
the increasing weight problem, there aren’t some men who might
have the same problem as large-breasted women. I’m reminded
of a Seinfeld episode in which Kramer addressed this problem by
proposing to market the “bro”, a bra for men! Could Kramer
have been ahead of his time?

Allen F. Bortrum



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-11/16/2005-      
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Dr. Bortrum

11/16/2005

LEDs in Motion

While I was on the cruise described in last week’s column,
William Oliver Baker died at age 90. Bill Baker was legendary
at Bell Labs, having served as its president and chairman of the
board and as an advisor to five U.S. presidents. In 1952, when I
interviewed for a job at Bell Labs, I found myself in a lab with
Baker and Robert Burns, an eminent scientist. I hadn’t heard of
either one of them. Burns asked me why I wanted to leave
NACA, my employer at the time. I responded with some remark
about being unhappy with my management there. I thought
Baker was asleep; his eyes were closed. However, he opened his
eyes and said, “Mr. Bortrum (he actually used my real name), if
you came to Bell Labs and were placed in charge, how would
you run this place?” I haven’t the foggiest idea what I replied
but I got the job offer! Three years later, Baker was made vice
president of research.

Baker was known for his curiosity and his broad knowledge
about virtually everything. I like to think he would have found
this week’s topic intriguing. Arriving at The Electrochemical
Society (ECS) meeting in Los Angeles last month, one of the
first people I encountered was a past president of the Society.
Dick greeted me with the comment that he was using my
“voluptuous” solubility curves in his classes at the University of
Illinois. He was referring to the plots in a paper I published in
1960 in the late Bell System Technical Journal (not only is the
Bell System long gone, but next week AT&T may be officially
swallowed up by one of its offspring, SBC). My solid solubility
curves for impurities in germanium and silicon were used
worldwide because they were helpful in determining how to
control the amounts of impurities in germanium or silicon
transistors or other devices.

I never considered those curves to be “voluptuous”. However,
the solubilities of most impurities increase with temperature and
then decrease to zero at the melting points of germanium or
silicon. This so-called “retrograde” solubility does give the
curves a distinct resemblance to the profile of Dolly Parton’s
upper torso viewed from the side. And it’s certainly true that
“voluptuous” is ‘in” these days. One cannot escape it in the
movies and on TV. Even on our cruise ship, with a largely older
clientele, there were examples of extreme cleavage on the pool
deck.

Coincidentally, on the plane to Los Angeles, I read an article
titled “The Physics of Bras” by Anne Casselman in the
November issue of Discover magazine. After publishing those
“voluptuous” curves, I spent a decade at Bell Labs working on
light emitting diodes (LEDs). My colleagues Ralph Logan and
Harry White used gallium phosphide crystals grown in my lab to
make the LEDs for the Bell System’s first working telephone
with LEDs in the pushbuttons. Now, LEDs are everywhere in
applications ranging from sneakers to stoplights in autos to
Times Square billboard displays. In the 1960s, we might have
anticipated many of today’s LED applications but certainly not
the one discussed in Casselman’s article.

But first, let’s consider the breast and its construction. The
article indicates that the engineering aspects of the breast are not
fully understood. The breast is made up of lobes, 15 to 20 of
them, and these lobes contain lobules ending in bulbs that
produce milk. A network of ducts connects the bulbs and the
bulbs and ducts are about the same size in all women, according
to the article. The size of the breast is principally determined by
the amount of fat and the presence of any implants. What seems
to be up in the air is the question as to what it is that keeps the
breast from sagging. Some experts believe that ligaments
weaving among the ducts are responsible while others think the
skin plays a major role.

Whatever the answer, for an increasing number of women, breast
size is a problem. The increase in obesity has also led to an
increase in voluptuosity (a new word?). Not only fast foods but
also breast implants and hormones associated with birth control
pills have raised the average bra size for American women from
34B to 36C. Almost a third of American women now wear D-
cup or larger bras. I was shocked to read that a pair of D-cup
breasts can weigh between 15 and 23 pounds! Casselman likens
this to “carrying around two small turkeys”! No wonder over
half of women who jog complain of breast pain.

How to address the problem for joggers or for that matter any
well-endowed woman? For joggers, there’s the problem of one
of Newton’s laws, that is force = mass x acceleration. In extreme
cases, Casselman says that a falling large breast slapping against
the chest can actually break the clavicle! More commonly, if the
bra has thin straps, the pressure can be enough to cause furrows
in the shoulders, pushing down on a nerve group running down
the arm and causing pain in certain fingers. The function of the
bra for the jogger is to support and limit the motion of the
breasts. The article states that two women were the first to come
up with the sports bra in 1977. They took apart two jockstraps,
sewed them together and voila! - the Jogbra.

This compression of the breasts is one approach to limiting their
movements during running or jogging. The other approach is the
encapsulation bra, which consists of large molded cups to
contain the breast. I gather neither of these approaches is really
comfortable for the wearers of the bras. Enter Julie Steele, a
biomechanist and Deirdre McGhee, a sports physiotherapist and
graduate student in Steele’s team at the University of
Wollongong in Australia. Steele’s group is studying the
movement of the breast during jogging with the goal of
designing a “smart” bra. If achieved, the smart bra would sense
whether the wearer is walking, sitting or running and tighten or
loosen appropriate parts of the bra accordingly.

Here’s where the LEDs come into play. The Aussie researchers
are studying the three-dimensional movements of the breast in
jogging women. They tag the subjects with LEDs on the breasts
and sternum and record the motions of the breasts and the body
for women jogging on treadmills without bras. Then, the joggers
are fitted with specially designed bras containing LEDs, sensors
to measure pressure on the shoulders and electrodes to measure
muscle activity. The LED movements are fed into a computer
system to analyze the breast movement. Even small breasts were
found to move vertically up to 3 inches during jogging, while
large breasts would sometimes jump out of the bra.

Apparently, the quest for a comfortable supportive bra is a very
competitive area. I certainly didn’t know that Maidenform had
an R&D department. Casselman quotes a Maidenform vice
president as saying that making a bra is like building a bridge,
with weight to be uplifted and supported. She says with large
breasts that challenge grows “dramatically”. Apparently, the
Australian researchers have made some progress but patent and
competitive considerations preclude them revealing details now.

One of the more facetious arguments against intelligent design is
the fact that men have breasts. I’m wondering if, with aging and
the increasing weight problem, there aren’t some men who might
have the same problem as large-breasted women. I’m reminded
of a Seinfeld episode in which Kramer addressed this problem by
proposing to market the “bro”, a bra for men! Could Kramer
have been ahead of his time?

Allen F. Bortrum