Why Did Eric Betzig Leave Science for His Dad?

Eric Betzig says the scales fell off his eyes early. He did not just leave Bell Labs, and he did not just leave Nearfield. He left science, and he was done with it. He went to work for his dad.

His dad worked for a machine tool company in Michigan, home of the big three in the auto industry, and the industry was producing millions of cars a year. The volume means millions of brake calipers a year, and Eric Betzig says you may need to make a million intake manifolds a year. A thousand guys each on a milling machine cannot turn out the parts. Computer numerically controlled machines existed, but they were not robust enough to produce a million parts a year. Where his dad worked, the company designed a machine for one specific part. Two years before the car is in the showroom, the big three ask companies to quote a machine customized to make a million brake calipers a year. The machine is ten times the size of the room, milling, drilling, and tapping at different stations, and every 30 seconds a part comes out. Even back then the machines cost hundreds of thousands to a million dollars. The builder has a year to get the machine running, and it has to run 24-7 on the floor.

Miss the brake caliper and stop the assembly line, and they will never buy again. The machines have to be really robust.