The World's Largest Computer in 1951

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around historical and technical aspects of significant machines and vehicles, including the ENIAC computer and the Russian Ekranoplan. Participants engage in a quiz-like format, posing questions and providing hints about various inventions, their specifications, and historical context.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes the ENIAC, detailing its size, weight, components, and power consumption, while noting its limited processing power compared to modern devices.
  • Another participant identifies the ENIAC as the machine described in the previous post.
  • Participants discuss a large vehicle that weighs 540 tons, can travel over land and water, and is hinted to be built in Russia, leading to speculation about its identity.
  • Some participants propose that the vehicle in question is the Russian Ekranoplan, explaining its design and operational principles related to ground effect.
  • There is a discussion about a vehicle that achieved over 188 miles per gallon, with participants speculating on its type and historical significance, including a mention of a Harley Davidson motorcycle from 1908.
  • One participant describes a crude device involving a wooden stand, a funnel, acid, and copper wire, prompting further questions about its purpose.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the identity of some machines, particularly the vehicle that achieved high fuel efficiency, as various guesses and clarifications are made. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specifics of some inventions and their historical context.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the specifications and classifications of the vehicles discussed, particularly regarding the Ekranoplan's operational capabilities and the fuel efficiency claims of the motorcycle.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in the history of computing, engineering innovations, and the evolution of vehicle technology may find this discussion engaging.

  • #361
Ok, Its Huckleberry's turn. I like this thread. :biggrin:
 
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  • #362
Who was the first person in history to have written evidence of an accurate solution for Olbers' Paradox?

I hope I got this right, but there it is. We'll know soon enough.
 
  • #363
Einstein?...
 
  • #364
Kepler was so disturbed by this paradox that he simply postulated thta the universe was finite, enclosed within a shell, and hence only a finite amount of starlight could reach our eyes.

Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers in 1823 wrote that the starlight is absorbed by dust clouds. "How forunate that the Earth does not receive starlight from every point of the celestial vault! Yet, with such unimaginablee brightness and heat, amounting to 90,000 times more than what we now experience, the Almighty could easily have deisnged organsims capable of adapting to such extreme conditions." Olbers suggested the dust clouds must absorb the intense heat to make life on Earth possible.
 
  • #365
Nope.
How should I know when to give a clue?
 
  • #366
No! I got the answer.
 
  • #367
Huckleberry said:
Nope.
How should I know when to give a clue?
Just listen to your sadistic streak. :biggrin:
 
  • #368
Mk said:
No! I got the answer.
what year was Kepler's discovery?
 
  • #369
In 1848, the first person in history to solve the mystery was Edger Allen Poe, who had a long-term interest in astronomy. Just before he died he published the answer in a philosphical poem entitled Eureka: A Prose Poem.

Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us an uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy - sice there could be absolutely no point, in all that backgroud, at which would not aexist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could comprehend the voids whihc our telescopes find in innumerable directions, would be by supposing that the distance of the invisible background [is] so imense that no ray from it has yet to be able to reach us at all. [This] idea is by far too beautiful not to possesses Truth as its essentiality.
 
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  • #370
Oh, and Lord Kelvin also discovered it in 1901.
 
  • #371
MK has the right answer. Or at least the answer that I was looking for.

Just like Lord Kelvin, to come up with an answer before the question is asked. Poe was the name I had in mind.
 
  • #372
I am an autistic savant and child prodigy that was born around 1850, in America. Mark Twain regularly attended my concerts before I started my world tour. Give two of my names. :smile:
 
  • #373
Mk said:
I am an autistic savant and child prodigy that was born around 1850, in America. Mark Twain regularly attended my concerts before I started my world tour. Give two of my names. :smile:
Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins
 
  • #374
Correctamundo!
 
  • #375
She drew a blank, intentionally, with this invention in 1951.
 
  • #376
zoobyshoe said:
She drew a blank, intentionally, with this invention in 1951.
Etch-a-Sketch?
 
  • #377
Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith in 1951.
 
  • #378
Mk said:
Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith in 1951.
That's it!
 
  • #379
This group of people in the 1500s did not eat worms.
 
  • #380
That would be referring to The Diet of Worms, being a meeting of the estates of the holy roman empire in Worms, Germany, to address Luther's theses criticising the catholic church. It was held by holy roman emperor Charles V
 
  • #381
Yes. Your turn to formulate a question!
 
  • #382
The centre of the Earth prooved too far, despite their very expensive efforts.
 
  • #383
What country? This could be a lot of groups.
 
  • #384
Vert true Mk, Very True.
 
  • #385
It was America.
 
  • #386
The deepest research borehole ever drilled was in Russia, on the Kola peninsula. Over a period of more than a decade a huge purpose-built rig drilled to over 12 kilometers to investigate the structure of the Continental Crust. Its about 12,226 meters deep.
 
  • #387
*doubletakes* America? Is my world's deepest hole going the right direction?
 
  • #388
You're on the right track. This was undertaken by The American Miscellaneous Society (AMSOC), and wasn't in Russia.
 
  • #389
Oh, well now you told us the answer.

What do the rules say now?
 
  • #390
How about just Zygotic Embryo posts a question.
 

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