Nerdaphernalia » books http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia "It's All Geek To Me" Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:51:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 “Computers in the future…” http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/2009/01/computers-in-the-future/ http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/2009/01/computers-in-the-future/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:01:29 +0000 Stephen R http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/?p=246 I found a rather interesting (and amusing) quote in my recent reading:

In March 1949,[...] an article in Popular Mechanics, describing a state-of-the-art computer called the Eniac, speculated on what lay beyond: “Where a calculator like the Eniac today is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs three tons,” the writer predicted, “computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only half a ton.” To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the half-million dollar machine, the supercomputer of its day, a group of electrical engineering students at the university of Pennsylvania duplicated its circuitry on a silicon chip measuring 7.44 by 5.29 millimeters.

“A Shortcut Through Time“
George Johnson
p.103-04

© Stephen Rider 2009

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