On 17 October 2024 we had the chance to have the visit of Robert “Bob” Melville, IEEE Senior Member, at EPFL. While traveling Europe, he decided to stop in Switzerland to meet with friends from Swiss Space programs. This was an opportunity for the Student Branch of EPFL and the Life Member Activity Group to organize a special Stammtisch.

Bob is a very interesting and friendly engineer, who worked for AT&T Bell Labs and taught at Columbia University. Recently he worked in Antarctica and Uganda. His presentation focused on problem solving by thinking outside of the box, demonstrated by historical examples taken from several domains: mechanical engineering, optics, mathematics, and magic!

The small team who attended the talk and the following discussions enjoyed this gathering very much.

By Michel Bron, IEEE Life Senior Member