[GreenKeys] Mystery rectifier - slightly OT

[Keith Lueck]

The president of a company I used to work for started out his career (he was a physicist) working for a local selenium rectifier manufacturer.  He said they had a "burn-in" room where they passed current through 'em to clear the defects (shorts in the stack) - he said he walked through the room many times, and it was noisy (popping) and kinda smoky... (!)  This is the same guy who, as a graduate physics student, used to take his radiation badge off to enter the room where they were running a cyclotron - apparently, it was very finicky to get powered up and running correctly, so, rather than shut it down (or spoil their badge), they'd take off the badge and leave it in the control room while they tinkered with the thing while it was running (bonus - it also had a multi kV power supply!).  This would've been the late 40's.  One of his undergrad profs tried to get him to not enlist in the Marines by telling him that he could be working on something far more helpful to the war effort (the Manhattan project, of course), but he didn't listen.  He signed up, but by the time he got through basic training, the war had ended...  It was certainly a different time.  A real interesting and sharp guy - started 3 successful companies, sold one and got bought out of another so he could go start the one I ended up working for.  Died at the age of 81 in 2007.  I was there for 15 years and I only know of one vacation he ever took.  Smoked like a chimney until the day he died. Go figure...  
Cheers,
Keith
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