VirtualizationVirtualization enables the separation of an operating system and the physical device, the chips that it runs on. An imperfect but close enough metaphor is auto rental. Rather than purchasing a car, that may be too big for many tasks and too small for others, a user can rent just the right size car or … Continue reading "Virtualization"
MinicomputerComputers were big. They were enormously expensive and physically giant machines. IBM’s nickname from this time was Big Blue on account of the size of the company and their computers. History Olsen developed, by current standards, small transistor-based computers at MIT. He left in ’57 to form a company, the Digital Computer Corporation. It was … Continue reading "Minicomputer"
LinuxLinux is a stable and secure operating system. The operating system is open-source and free. However, there are many companies that sell support for Linux, and maintenance is typically the source for most of the cost comes of maintaining an operating system. Background Limited to 16 concurrent users at his school’s computer, Linus wanted a … Continue reading "Linux"
Vulcanized RubberVulcanization is the process that makes rubber useful. Before vulcanization rubber was effectively a useless gooey material. It melted in the heat, went brittle in the cold, and made for terrible raincoats. Vulcanization stabilized rubber in a useful state. The rubber we know now exists due to vulcanization. Charles Goodyear ran a small but successful … Continue reading "Vulcanized Rubber"
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)MRI allows physicians to see and diagnose soft tissue without surgery. Background MRI is one of these cases where everybody argues somebody else invented it for patent priority. However, courts and historians find that physician Raymond Damadian was first to make an MRI that scans people (prior MRI’s would scan small pieces of organic material). … Continue reading "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)"
Floppy DiskFloppy disks allowed inexpensive, portable storage of digital information. Floppies were faster, more flexible, more convenient, and lower cost than tape drives. Floppy drives made computers simpler to use, more convenient and increased productivity for computer operators who did not have to load tapes. Noble invented the floppy disk as an IBM engineer. His first … Continue reading "Floppy Disk"
Flushing Toilets / Indoor PlumbingShortly before reaching their third birthday, children learn to use the toilet. Except for Indian children whose parents somehow potty train them as infants, a trick that’d transform the west though remains a total digression towards indoor plumbing. Life was changed for the better when indoor plumbing was invented. Getting back to the toddlers of … Continue reading "Flushing Toilets / Indoor Plumbing"
Public-Key Cryptography (Public key encryption)Public Key Cryptography (PKC) dramatically lowers the risk of information intercept and also lowers the risk of impersonation. PKC vastly increases security. For example, Google allows people to send queries to them encrypted. But they cannot decrypt the queries sent by others with what they give you, only Google can. Besides encrypting and decrypting, public … Continue reading "Public-Key Cryptography (Public key encryption)"
Binary TheoryIn 1935 theoretical mathematician Alan Turing proposed a machine that would use a series of on and off switches that could represent or compute anything. Turing joined the war effort to build mechanical computers that decrypted Enigma messages. Eventually, he helped with electronic computers. His theories underpin all modern computers. Subsequently, Turing envisaged reasonably sentient … Continue reading "Binary Theory"
Multi-Shot Revolver“God created men equal, Sam Colt made them equal.” Samuel Colt Overview Colt’s revolver reduced the cost and risk of settling the US. Before the revolver, Native Americans could shoot arrows faster than pioneers could reload muskets, making westward travel and settlement dangerous. The Colt revolver reversed the dynamics and is widely credited with winning … Continue reading "Multi-Shot Revolver"
Easy CreditBackground Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper revolutionalized agriculture. McCormick’s reaper enabled one man to harvest the same amount of grain in one day as he could in two weeks by hand. Since grain goes bad when not timely harvested, the reaper enabled farmers to plant far larger crops with commensurate profits. Additionally, the reaper lowered the … Continue reading "Easy Credit"
Tractor Treads1904 Benjamin Holt “In the Roberts Island tract, where a man could not walk without sinking to his knees, and where tule-shoed horses could not be used, the new traction engine was operated without a perceptible impression in the ground.” Farm Implement News, May 18, 1905 “It looks like a caterpillar,” said a photographer observing … Continue reading "Tractor Treads"
InternetNikola Tesla and J.C.R. Licklider both talked about a worldwide network of computers. Licklider referred to it as an “Intergalactic Network.” Background The internet evolved slowly over time. At first, it wasn’t much more than a series of specifications, ideas about how computers might talk to one another. Eventually, towards the late 1960s, these turned … Continue reading "Internet"
DialysisDialysis machines do the work of kidneys, cleaning the blood of impurities. After two years of experimentation on terminal patients, 15 who died, Kolff successfully kept a woman suffering renal failure alive with his “artificial kidney” dialysis machine. After WWII he donated the machines to hospitals around the world then immigrated to the US in … Continue reading "Dialysis"
Blue JeansBlue jeans are fun. The once entirely functional pants evolved to represent a lifestyle. When sold as functional work pants, Levi’s did OK. When sold on emotion sales mushroomed. Background Levi Loeb immigrated from Germany to the US and changed his name to Strauss, which sounded more American. In Germany, Jews were forbidden from owning … Continue reading "Blue Jeans"
