engineering

Milton Rubin

Milton Rubin is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Milton Rubin rather than just read about it. In short: Milton D. Rubin (1914–1996) was an American systems engineer and inventor, who was president of the Society for General Systems Research in 1968.

Key takeaways

Milton Rubin belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Milton Rubin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Milton Rubin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Milton D. Rubin (1914–1996) was an American systems engineer and inventor, who was president of the Society for General Systems Research in 1968.

Biography In 1914 Milton Rubin was born in Boston and attended Boston Latin School. He received his formal education at Harvard University in communications engineering and applied mathematics, and graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. His son, Mark Jonathon Rubin, was born in 1947. His daughter, Lise Diane Rubin, was born in 1950. Over the next 50 years, he worked for numerous engineering firms, where he served as manager of system engineering and consulting scientist. His career further included research into materials and components, and specialized in radar. In the 1940s he worked at the Raytheon Co. where he headed the Equipment Division. In 1954 he became consulting scientist, the highest professional level one can attain in the company. Later in the 1950s Rubin became Research Director at GA Philbrick Researches Inc. in Boston. From the 1960s until the 1980s he worked at the Mitre Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts. Rubin was organizationally active in the Society for General Systems Research. For years he was Secretary Treasurer and the Editor of the "General Systems Newsletter, quarterly". In 1968 he was president of the Society for General Systems Research. And in 1981 he received the IEEE-USA Award by the IEEE. Milton D. Rubin of Newton died Saturday July 6, 1996 at Clark House in Westwood. He was survived by his wife, Tillie Rubin, daughter, Lise Diane Rubin, grandson, Joel Benjamin, and granddaughter, Eva Weinstein.

Work

General Systems One of the main lines of thought in General Systems according to Rubin in 1966 is the transfer of system concepts from one field to another. There has been fruitful application of such theoretical concepts from engineering to other fields such as biology. In his 1966 paper "General Systems and Systems Engineering" Rubin attempted "to apply concepts from biology to the practice of systems engineering. The relation of systems engineering to other fields is discussed, utilizing an intellectual framework based on the concepts of speciation and competition between species. The internal social structure of the profession and of individual organizations is considered, using the concept of competition within a species. Examples are drawn from biology to illustrate the points at issue". Rubin edited two books, contributed to one book and wrote several articles.

Books 1970, "Man in Systems" (ed.) New York: Gordon and Breach Science. 1973, "Systems in Society" (ed.) Washington, D.C.: Society for General Systems Research. Contribution 1968, "History of technological feedback". Chapter 2 in: "Positive Feedback; a General Systems Approach to Positive/negative Feedback and Mutual Causality". Edited by John Milsum. Oxford : Pergamon Press. Articles 1965, "Society for General Systems Research (L2)", in: "Science", Feb 19, 147 (3660): 926–927. 1966, "General Systems and Systems Engineering", in: "IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics", Vol 2, Issue 1, Aug. 66 Pages:3-7. 1971, "One General Systems View of Education", in "General Systems", Vol 16, 125.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Milton Rubin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Milton Rubin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Milton Rubin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Milton Rubin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Milton Rubin

In research: Milton Rubin appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Milton Rubin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Milton Rubin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1996 deaths, 20th-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Milton Rubin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Milton Rubin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Milton Rubin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Milton Rubin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Milton Rubin in simple terms?

Milton D. Rubin (1914–1996) was an American systems engineer and inventor, who was president of the Society for General Systems Research in 1968.

Why does Milton Rubin matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Milton Rubin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Milton Rubin.