“We wanted to change the world”

I “fell” into the electric power industry. My years there were certainly interesting, where I learned as much about marketing as I did about transformers, generators, insulation, and the things that made them deteriorate. And while there, I met people who would become some of my dearest friends. So it was easy to say yes to an opportunity to write profiles about people in the power industry for IEEE’s Electrical Insulation magazine. Here is the first.

We begin our feature series with a profile of Len Dissado. We spoke over Zoom, with Dissado joining in from his “house made of books,” where he estimates there are at least a thousand volumes. In a thoughtful, and at times hilarious, conversation, we discussed his prolific work and everything from badminton to Greek coffee. Dissado shared more stories and endless insights into science and society than we could include in an article. Speaking with him was a delight, and what follows is a mere glimpse into the life of this incomparable man.

Len Dissado always knew he was going to be a scientist, even before he knew what it meant to be a scientist. Born in Lancashire, UK, in August 1942, in the middle of the second World War, Dissado grew up in England during a period of austerity. He remembers holding his mother's place in the long queue at the butcher shop and being 10 when rationing finally ended. Soon after, he was accepted into the inaugural class of a “school of the future.” Every day he traveled 90 minutes to reach the Thomas Linacre Technical School, but it was worth every step and train ride.

“Things were changing in the world, and we wanted to change the world,” said Dissado, who believes that in many senses, he would not be here without that school, which built technology into the curriculum and encouraged its students to think for themselves.