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- Newsgroups: comp.arch
- Path: sparky!uunet!mole-end!mat
- From: mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us
- Subject: Re: A Little History
- Message-ID: <1992Aug23.064854.11861@mole-end.matawan.nj.us>
- Summary: On History
- Organization: :
- References: <1478@seqp4.sequoia.com>
- Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 06:48:54 GMT
- Lines: 55
-
- In article <1478@seqp4.sequoia.com>, jcooley@seqp4.sequoia.com (John Cooley) writes:
- > > From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
-
- > > ... What I'm proposing is to split comp.arch, in an attempt to move
- > > the discussions of computer architecture history into a seperate group.
-
- > > There have been recurrent long discussions/reminiscences of ancient
- > > general volume level is increasing with the internet population, in any case
- > > it has become a problem IMHO).
-
- > There seems to have been an almost Stalinist approach to writing
- > most college textbooks on physics, programing and electronics with the
- > goal of purging practically all references to the people who did the original
- > research. ...
-
- > ... electrical engineer, I never even heard ... the stories and legal
- > battles the inventors of AM and later FM radio went through ... until a
- > recent ... show on PBS called "Empire of the Air". Why wasn't I taught
- > this somewhere in school? ...
-
- This is one of my hot buttons. Who the blazes cares who signed the
- treaty of Utrech, or how many parts Gaul was divided into? I want to
- read about Coulomb and Galva and Paracelsius and Edison and Zworykin.
-
- _That's_ why history is so boring! Because it's all about stuff that
- none of cares about. Now, the inventor of the Smith Chart? Who was
- he? What became of his first name? What _was_ his first name? Tell
- me about Mr. Smith!
-
- I'm ranting a bit, of course. And I want to know about Metternich as
- well as about Mr. Smith. But I have a viewgraph with 26 names on it.
- Each of the 26 people named thereupon made a significant and particular
- contribution to the world in which we live. Most made their contributions
- in electrotechnology, but not all.
-
- I presented this, just after lunch, to four different classes, each filled
- with practicing EE's and software developers. And not one of the classes
- was able to identify half the names. (And yes, some appeared in `Empire
- of the Air.')
-
- I'm appalled.
-
- One more paragraph before I let this newsgroup go back to its charter:
- I offer a copy of these names by electronic mail, and a second mailing,
- if it is needed, with the `answers.' This offer is open to all. Try
- it, test yourself!
-
- (For that matter, what about Messrs. Quine and McCluskey? Have I
- got those names right? The prof I had for that class was known as
- The Babbling Blonde Buffoon.)
- --
- (This man's opinions are his own.)
- From mole-end Mark Terribile
-
- mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us, Somewhere in Matawan, NJ
-