‘Science and Technology’ Archives
Dynamics
Dynamics Dynamica is a term coined by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) in 1689 during his Italian journey, referring to his doctrine of forces. In that year, he composed an extensive work called Dynamica, which remained unpublished at the time. His major publication on the subject is “Specimen Dynamicum,” which appeared in the Acta [...]
Distributed Computing
Distributed Computing This concept involves the creation of a software system that runs programs and stores data across a number of different computers, an idea pervasive today. A simple form is the central computer (such as in a bank or credit card company) with which thousands of terminals communicate to submit transactions. While this system [...]
What is Encryption?
Encryption The use of encryption to disguise the meanings of messages goes back thousands of years (the Romans, for example, used substitution ciphers, where each letter in a message was replaced with a different letter). Mechanical cipher machines first came into general use in the 1930s. During World War II the German Enigma cipher machine [...]
Audio Systems
Audio Systems At the start of the twentieth century, mechanical recording and reproduction of sound by cylinder or disk phonographs was dominant (Edison’s cylinder, Edison’s Diamond Disk, Emile Berliner’s gramophone, and the Victor Talking Machine Company’s Victrola). Playback quality was limited by the lack of amplification methods to [...]
Kidnapped
Kidnapped In the spring of 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson began work on a serial adventure story, set against the backdrop of the Scottish Jacobite rebellion; it ran in Young Folks magazine from May 1 through July 31, 1886. Cassell published Kidnapped as a full novel in July of that same year. The novel was quite successful for Stevenson, both [...]
Limits of Science
Limits of Science What does all this have to do with nonmathematical topics like religion, agnosticism, and metaphysics? The answer is that Goedel’s theorem points out a basic limitation of science. We notice that all of science taken as a whole is an example of an infinite mathematical system to which Goedel’s theorem does apply. The [...]
The Trackball
The Trackball This pointing device is a stationary, upside-down mouse and generally is used with laptops. The advantage of the trackball over the mouse is that it minimizes hand–eye coordination, as well as reducing extra desk space needed to navigate the mouse. Most notebooks or laptops have built-in trackballs. Some notebooks, however, are [...]
Scientific Culture
Scientific Culture In all cultures, knowledge about nature and the environment is highly valued. To be able to anticipate the weather or other aspects of nature, such as the behavior of fauna or deciding which flora are beneficial and which are noxious, is important for the survival of the community. All cultures have some process of acquiring [...]
The Mouse
The Mouse In the early 1980s, the first PCs were equipped with the traditional user input device: a keyboard. By the end of the decade, however, a mouse device became essential for running the graphical user interface (GUI) operating systems. There are two common types of mouse: electromechanical and optical. The electro-mechanical has recently [...]
Readers
Readers Serial, or serial port readers, utilize the assigned channels of a computer to pass data for processing from a source such as card-reading devices, magnetic strip readers, or optical character recognition sensors. Serial readers pass data, 1 bit at a time. Parallel readers pass 8 bits at a time. Today, people have come to know the term [...]
