U.S. Steel Research talk and AISI Orlando conclave

Tom's "Future of Metals" paper (early 1990s), the invitation to give the talk at U.S. Steel Research (the first outside speaker), and the subsequent AISI presidents' conclave in Orlando. Anchors his observation about the inbred not-invented-here culture of American steel research.

I wrote the "Future of Metals" paper. It turns out the people in the steel industries were being beat up so badly by all the people in Wall Street, that when I wrote that paper in the early '90s they asked me at U.S. Steel Research to come and give my talk. I was the first outside person to give this type of lecture — it was always internal people, which says something about the ingrown, inbred, not-invented-here nature of U.S. Steel Research. I gave this talk about why steel was important. I thought, why do I have to go to U.S. Steel Research to tell them why steel is an important material? About two years later I was invited to the big conclave of the American Iron and Steel Institute — steel company presidents — down in Orlando. I'd never been to a place like this before. This was a gated resort center, palatial. Golf course right there. This is where the presidents of the American Iron and Steel companies would go to confer with each other — to collude, I mean, no, it's illegal. I had to give a talk on the future of metals. I thought, this really is silly, that I'm a professor at MIT and I have to go talk to the presidents of the U.S. steel companies to tell them why steel is an important material. But it's a true story. At that point it reinforced why I decided early in my career that it was time to get out of the steel industry.