Electrical Engineering thus has its origins in society's desire to communicate and share information. The first commercial application of electrical energy was in 1838 when Samuel Morse erected 40 miles of wire between Washington and Baltimore and used it to transmit telegraphs. As time passed an ever-increasing range of applications for electrical energy were invented: at one end of the spectrum are machines that can move, carry and lift large loads; at the other end are devices and systems that focus primarily on processing, storing and transmitting information .
The Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering develops skills and knowledge across this wide spectrum of electrical engineering activities. The Information Engineering Research Programme (IERP) covers activities at the ‘information' end of the spectrum.
The Programme is headed up by Prof Barry Dwolatzky and has attracted strong support from both the private and public sectors.
