Forum

  • Tks Wlanman09

    If anyone wants to see a great movie, try ?Longitude?. It is the story of one man?s attempts to build a marine chronometer [ timepiece ] that would help determine a ship?s exact longitude. Countless tens of thousands of sailors had perished on rocky coastlines due to the fact that the navigators of the ships they were in were unable to calculate longitude exactly. The engineering of that device was truly one of the greatest accomplishments in history [ the moving of the ship in three axes for a start was a major issue ]. It not only goes into how modern navigation came about, but goes into the arrogance of the people that Harrison [ the inventor ] was up against.

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004U2K1/?tag=brsite3-20
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF85O9SJCaE

    The last clip tells a little about GMT which I?m sure we have all seen as an option on many pieces of electronic gear.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6w5Q7tRX88&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlQcCenLchU&feature=related

    The following clips are from a very entertaining science series. There is some good info on the effects of electromagnetism. The telegraph was one of the first digital transmission systems. Morse Code and the Baudot Code [ Baud Rate anyone ? ] were the grandfathers of ASCII. If you listen carefully you can hear where the term ?Ethernet? came from. Also a bit of electromagnetic ?wireless? transmission. UV light and EPROMS ?........the basics were invented way, way back. James Burke (the presenter) is well worth ?googling?. He has done many interesting science programs over the years. We tend to take Wi-Fi, computers, electric lighting etc for granted these days, but the struggles of the early pioneers were truly staggering.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7d35O36GIk&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6QL0dvaUeQ&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb8MnNp82To&feature=related

    Dave

Page 1 of 1
  • 1