The World's Largest Computer in 1951

  • Thread starter Thread starter wolram
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Computer
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
2,468 replies · 236K views
[tex]\alpha = \frac {e^2}{2 \epsilon _o hc} \approx \frac {1}{137}[/tex]

The following link is not from any reputed scientific source, and hence must be taken as a pop-sci account, with a little glitter thrown in for fun. The historical facts in it, however, are accurate and hence make it very read-worthy.

http://www.137.com/137/
 
Physics news on Phys.org
zoobyshoe said:
This was the largest of its kind ever built at the time. It could produce 1600 horsepower, and was about 20 feet tall. What was it, and where was it first installed? Hint: centenial

Without googling, I would say

The Centennial celebrated American industrial power. Its most famous exhibit was the gigantic 1600-HP Corliss steam engine that powered Machinery Hall. The first piece of the Statue of Liberty -- the hand and torch -- had just arrived from France and was put on exhibit. But it paled against the machinery -- the fruit of American factories, the raw muscle of our industries.
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi205.htm

But it's just a googleless guess. :rolleyes:
 
zoobyshoe said:
This was the largest of its kind ever built at the time. It could produce 1600 horsepower, and was about 20 feet tall. What was it, and where was it first installed? Hint: centenial
If not for the "installed" bit, some WWII bomber might have fit the bill.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Without googling, I would say...
Just a minute while I google the answer...
...

...YES!
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Discovered in the mid 1800's:



Now google that!
Just want to double-check. That is really 'monoclinal', not a typo of 'monoclonal', right?

Anyhow, sounds like some kind of volcanic island or reef.
 
Ayres rock (red rock) Australia.
 
'Monoclinal' must be the geogolists' adjectival form of the already happy adjective, 'monoclinic' (which is a crystal lattice structure familiar to physicists and materials scientists). Geologists suck !

<runs to escape barrage of rotten tomatoes, eggs and dolomite chunks>

Ayers Rock sounds like a winner...
 
Last edited:
Gokul43201 said:
'Monoclinal' must be the geogolists' adjectival form of the already happy adjective, 'monoclinic' (which is a crystal lattice structure familiar to physicists and materials scientists).
Thanks for that clarification. I was figuring that monoclinal must mean 'flat'.

Gokul43201 said:
Ayers Rock sounds like a winner...
But he said that it was discovered in the 1800's. There were Aboriginies in Oz thousands of years before that.
 
I don't know why I was thinking volcanic. 'Upthrust' is more indicative of crustal shifts. So this is some honkin' huge chunk of pumice or something that is remote enough to have gone unnoticed until the 19th century.
 
brewnog said:
Great Barrier Reef?
First thing that I thought of, but that's organic, not geological.
 

Similar threads

The World’s Largest Vacuum Chamber Settles an Old Question

  • Physics Footnotes
  • · Replies 7 ·
  • STEM Educators and Teaching
Replies
7

Stargazing New Radio Telescope is World's Largest

  • Tom.G
  • · Replies 3 ·
  • Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology
Replies
3

Stargazing World’s largest Cherenkov telescope opens

  • edguy99
  • · Replies 6 ·
  • Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology
Replies
6

History Did the Moghuls of India Really Build the World's Largest Cannon?

  • G01
  • · Replies 63 ·
  • Art, History, and Linguistics
3
Replies
63

World's largest guitar - frequency of vibration

  • Kimisaishime
  • · Replies 5 ·
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
5

News US Embassy in Bagdad: World's Largest & Most Secure

  • edward
  • · Replies 26 ·
  • General Discussion
Replies
26