NARUC's Winter Policy Summit
Carl Pechman is the Director of NRRI.
The 2021 NARUC Winter Policy Summit was held virtually and presided over by President Paul Kjellander. The Summit was an online success, with well attended sessions and panels on a slew of fascinating topics.
PUF's Executive Editor, Steve Mitnick, discussed his book, Lewis Latimer, The First Hidden Figure, with NRRI's Director, Carl Pechman, and an esteemed panel. Latimer, a prominent black engineer in the formation of the electric industry, played a critical role working with Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Hiram Maxim.
The book is part of a larger activity to build diversity in the electric industry, with profits helping establish the PUF Latimer Scholarship Fund administered by the American Association of Blacks in Energy.
Executive Editor, Public Utilities Fortnightly and Author, Lewis Latimer, The First Hidden Figure, Steve Mitnick: But for Lewis Latimer, the invention of the telephone wouldn't have been Alexander Graham Bell. He only got in by one hour into the patent office. Who did Bell's patent over that last Valentine's day weekend in 1876? It was Latimer.
Latimer self teaches himself patent law. Later, he started inventing. He has eight patents, and a few other patents were ascribed to others that were clearly Latimer's. He didn't get the credit. He didn't get any money.