Admirers burnish a leading light in GE's past; City and company recall engineer Steinmetz, once nearly as famous as Edison, with a day in his honor.(Capital Region)

Byline: MARC PARRY Staff Writer

SCHENECTADY - His work enabled people to make dependable electrical equipment. As chief consulting engineer for General Electric, engineers who tapped his brain for help called him "The Supreme Court." He had 195 patents.

"He really is in the class of Einstein, of Marconi, of Edison. But they (people) don't remember Steinmetz," said Thurston Sack, president of the Edison Exploratorium.

On Sunday, they did remember. Schenectady threw Charles Proteus Steinmetz a huge party for what would have been the mathematician and engineer's 141st birthday.

The event at the Edison Exploratorium marked the first City …