Читать книгу Practical Power Plant Engineering - Zark Bedalov - Страница 11

Zark Bedalov explains that as a kid he was always intrigued by electricity. He would turn a light switch on and off for hours and observed the light to come on. If the switch sparked, that intrigued him even more. There was no one there to explain to him what was going on in the wires. In his early school days, he was punished for smashing a capacitor to pieces for trying to see what was inside. A lot of greasy paper was inside.

He graduated at University of Electrical Engineering, Zagreb, Croatia, in 1965. Also, attended some master degree studies at the University of Toronto.

His first job was in a factory for power transformers. Soon he realized that making a transformer is 90% mechanical and 10% electrical. That was not what he was expecting. So he skipped over the border to Wiena, Austria, and arranged for immigration to Canada. Finding a job in Canada was not easy, in particular if you are an engineer. Being an engineer comes with responsibility and that requires “Canadian Experience.” It took him about six months to start as a draftsman on mining projects. Had a lot of support from many senior engineers and three years later was certified a “Professional Engineer.”

From thereon, Zark was in his domain and in demand. Early on, he changed companies every three to four years to learn more. He worked for almost 50 years on large projects, power plants, and heavy industries, all around the world, employed by major international engineering companies, such as Bechtel, Fluor, Atomic Energy of Canada, SNC Lavalin, and often independent, teaching along the way and enjoying the work and life. Now retired, he writes on electricity and teaches young engineers on how the electricity makes the factories and power plants function.