Think twice the next time you try to talk tech to Americans.

A study has found that one in five think that a Blu-ray is a sea animal and one in 10 think the coding language to build websites, HTML, is a type of sexually transmitted infection.

The study was conducted by Vouchercloud.net, an American coupons website looking to see how well its users know their tech jargon.

A spokeswoman for the company told the LA Times: “It seems that quite a few of us need to brush up on our tech definitions.”

On top of the hilarity of the HTML and Blu-ray confusions, there were a few more humorous findings.

— Nearly half thought that a “motherboard” was “the deck of a cruise ship”, not the main circuit board of a computer.

— A quarter thought that the measurement unit “gigabyte” was an insect commonly found in South America.

— Nearly a quarter believed that the audio format “MP3” was a Star Wars robot.

— 15 per cent thought that a computer program, or “software” was what you call comfortable clothing.

— 12 per cent answered that “USB” is an acronym for a European country — not a connection port on your computer.

Ironically, 61 per cent of those surveyed believed that having a good tech knowledge was extremely important.

Facepalm.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/new-study-reveals-that-a-lot-of-americans-have-no-idea-about-technology/story-fnjwnhzf-1226845769579

I'm really not surprised -- I actually attended a "training" session on digital media just a few years ago where the instructor ended up having to demonstrate how to use a flash drive.

 

THEY should have included the members of our resident "In a Flap" Goon Squad in their study...

THE Flopheads could easily score a 90+% failure rate, just looking at their regular technology/anti-science/creationist/fake "medicine" posts on here !     

Beekeeper wrote: 

THEY should have included the members of our resident "In a Flap" Goon Squad in their study...

THE Flopheads could easily score a 90+% failure rate, just looking at their regular technology/anti-science/creationist/fake "medicine" posts on here !     

Nothing to add to the topic then.

yes we muricans ARE THAT stupid lol

groomsy wrote:yes we muricans ARE THAT stupid lol

Just 'cause I'm that big of an asshole, I also looked up a survey where 40 percent of Aussies age 18-24 didn't know how long it takes the Earth to make a trip around the Sun   

Ben_Reilly wrote:

groomsy wrote:yes we muricans ARE THAT stupid lol

Just 'cause I'm that big of an asshole, I also looked up a survey where 40 percent of Aussies age 18-24 didn't know how long it takes the Earth to make a trip around the Sun   

http://watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/army-of-darkness-33-of-americans-think-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth/

ahem umm  :::grouch:: 
One third of Americans don't think the earth goes around the sun at ALL

 ::pnchy::

     u know I'm an asshole       

I've never even heard of vouchercloud, I wonder if it is an accurate sample or not. Maybe its based locally in South Carolina or Mississippi or something.
I think a lot of times on those online surveys, people click on anything just to finish it and they don't actually read the questions, especially if it is to get something off the internet, like a coupon or discount. I've done a few surveys before where I didn't read a single question, just click answers randomly to get it out of the way. That is my only guess for why someone wouldn't know basic computer and internet terms. Its hard to believe that anyone (outside the deep south) in the US would think software meant comfortable clothing.

Awesome pic Ben! If Bruce Campbell were to fight God, who would win? (.....don't try to answer that, its a trick question)

DrSchool wrote:I've never even heard of vouchercloud, I wonder if it is an accurate sample or not.   Maybe its based locally in South Carolina or Mississippi or something.
I think a lot of times on those online surveys, people click on anything just to finish it and they don't actually read the questions, especially if it is to get something off the internet, like a coupon or discount.  I've done a few surveys before where I didn't read a single question, just click answers randomly to get it out of the way.   That is my only guess for why someone wouldn't know basic computer and internet terms.   Its hard to believe that anyone (outside the deep south) in the US would think software meant comfortable clothing.

Awesome pic Ben!  If Bruce Campbell were to fight God, who would win?    (.....don't try to answer that, its a trick question)

I get it -- God cannot fight himself

eddie wrote:

Beekeeper wrote: 

THEY should have included the members of our resident "In a Flap" Goon Squad in their study...

THE Flopheads could easily score a 90+% failure rate, just looking at their regular technology/anti-science/creationist/fake "medicine" posts on here !     

Nothing to add to the topic then.

Nor you, apparently.

I don't worry about the Mericans. Berkeley has more Nobel prizes than any other institution in the world, university or otherwise.

An since they wrote and invented most of the stuff you use, a few of them know more than you. Lol

Original Quill wrote:I don't worry about the Mericans.  Berkeley has more Nobel prizes than any other institution in the world, university or otherwise.

An since they wrote and invented most of the stuff you use, a few of them know more than you.  Lol

but you have 10 times our population, per capita we kick your ass  ::D:: ::D:: ::D:: ::D:: 

Recent ones include wi-fi, and quantum bit.

Per capita, the highest number of genuinely new and innovative inventions do come out smaller-population places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Ireland and Scotland.

The USA may well be responsible for some 40% of the world's inventions and innovations each year ~ but with it's population of around 320 million being around 8 times bigger than South Africa's, 13 times bigger than Australia, 50 times bigger than Sweden or Ireland, >60 times bigger than NZ ~ the US can well afford to have around 80% of it's population unable to tie their own shoelaces, (that's why they invented "slip-on" loafers over there..)!

Over the past century, Australia has invented :

The "stump jump" plough;
The rotary clothes line;
Sao's, Tim Tams and Iced Vo-Vos;
The Victa lawnmower;
Antibiotics;
Improved sheep shearing sytems;
Vegemite;
The world's #3 computer system (after England, and at virtualy just the same time as the Yanks..);
"Over the horizon" RADAR sytems;
'Redeye' targeting sytems for shoulder-launched missiles;
Improved snake and spider anti-venoms;
Cochlear "bionic ear" implants;
Self-contained battle-field 'Medivac' stretchers (where the US Army then made their on copies ~ at twice the weight and nearly 3 times the cost !);
'Fluvax';
'Swine Flu' vaccines (under contract to those big pharma' corp's);
And anything else that Veya adds to the list..

P.S. The world's most prolific inventor is (was) Japanese ~ he outdid the ol' Tommy Eddison a few times over, and his family company holds the patents for the first transistors that he designed for Motorola.

I think we know which country trumps all of them, and that's all i'll say on the matter.

AND before I forget!

The Australian national mint also holds the patents for the invention and development of the Polymer Bank Note.

And where Australia has :
* sold the technology to several overseas countries;
* while at the same time, the Australian Mint also manufactures currencies for around 30 countries around the Pacific and South East Asia.

I think those "on the street" interviews that Jimmy Kimmel and formerly Jay Leno did shows how brain dead the young average American is these days. Those clips are major face palm time.

I agree with the thesis about smaller political units having more innovation.  If you think about it, California is the 7th largest economy in the world.  And if we just limit our small country to the Bay Area, we have two of the top three universities in America, the entire silicon valley, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Cisco, Intel...well, let Wiki do the worK:

wikipedia wrote:This is a list of companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area, current and former businesses located in the San Francisco Bay Area, broken down by type of business. Fortune 500 rankings are indicated in parentheses. The San Francisco Bay Area has more Fortune 500 headquarters than any other region except for the tri-state New York City region. All ranking is based on the list of the Fortune 500 companies from 2008. San Francisco based businesses are not listed here: the subset of San Francisco based businesses by type is at the list of companies based in San Francisco.

* * *

Electronics[edit]
AMD (406) – Sunnyvale
Adaptec – Milpitas
Agilent Tech. (443) – Santa Clara
Altera– San Jose
Apple Inc. (103) – Cupertino
Adaptec – Milpitas
Applied Materials (270) – Santa Clara
Barracuda Networks - Campbell
Cisco Systems (71) – San Jose
Dust Networks – Hayward
E-mu Systems – Scotts Valley
Elo Touch Solutions – Milpitas
Fujitsu Computer Products of America – Sunnyvale
Genesis Microchip – Santa Clara
Hewlett Packard (14) – Palo Alto
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies – San Jose
Hitachi Data Systems – Santa Clara
Intel (60) – Santa Clara
JDS Uniphase – Milpitas
Integrated Device Technology – San Jose
Logitech – Fremont
LSI Corporation – Milpitas
Marvell - Sunnyvale
Maxtor – Milpitas
Monster Cable Products – Brisbane
National Semiconductor – Santa Clara
NetApp – Sunnyvale
Nvidia – Santa Clara
Philips Lumileds Lighting Company – San Jose
Rackable Systems – Fremont (name changed to Silicon Graphics)
Rambus – Los Altos
Sanmina-SCI (255) – San Jose
SanDisk – Milpitas
Seagate Technology – Scotts Valley
Silicon Graphics – Fremont (acquired by Rackable Systems)
Silicon Image - Sunnyvale
Solectron Corporation – Milpitas
Sony Optiarc America Inc. – San Jose
Sun Microsystems (184) – Santa Clara
Supermicro – San Jose
Super Talent – San Jose
THX – San Rafael
Touchstone Semiconductor – Milpitas
Digidesign – Daly City
Juniper Networks – Sunnyvale
Foundry Networks – Santa Clara
Terayon – Santa Clara
Xilinx – San Jose

And this doesn't include energy, financial and medical and genetic companies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_based_in_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area

The small political unit theory is proven by limiting yourself to just the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Boys, boys, boys. Can we rename this thread, My Dad's bigger than your Dad?

Sassy wrote:Boys, boys, boys.   Can we rename this thread, My Dad's bigger than your Dad?

A bit more America bashing, sassy?  Tell me, what bothers you more, the jealousy or your loss of competitiveness?

Neither, you boys trying to outdo each other, it's really funny.

Lone Wolf wrote:
Per capita, the highest number of genuinely new and innovative inventions do come out smaller-population places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Ireland and Scotland.

The USA may well be responsible for some 40% of the world's inventions and innovations each year ~ but with it's population of around 320 million being around 8 times bigger than South Africa's, 13 times bigger than Australia, 50 times bigger than Sweden or Ireland, >60 times bigger than NZ ~ the US can well afford to have around 80% of it's population unable to tie their own shoelaces, (that's why they invented "slip-on" loafers over there..)!

Over the past century, Australia has invented :

The "stump jump" plough;
The rotary clothes line;
Sao's, Tim Tams and Iced Vo-Vos;
The Victa lawnmower;
Antibiotics;
Improved sheep shearing sytems;
Vegemite;
The world's #3 computer system (after England, and at virtualy just the same time as the Yanks..);
"Over the horizon" RADAR sytems;
'Redeye' targeting sytems for shoulder-launched missiles;
Improved snake and spider anti-venoms;
Cochlear "bionic ear" implants;
Self-contained battle-field 'Medivac' stretchers (where the US Army then made their on copies ~ at twice the weight and nearly 3 times the cost !);
'Fluvax';
'Swine Flu' vaccines (under contract to those big pharma' corp's);
And anything else that Veya adds to the list..

P.S. The world's most prolific inventor is (was) Japanese ~ he outdid the ol' Tommy Eddison a few times over, and his family company holds the patents for the first transistors that he designed for Motorola.

BTW Bee, Australia did not invent anti-biotics:

Late 1800s
The search for antibiotics began in the late 1800s, with the growing acceptance of the germ theory of disease, a theory which linked bacteria and other microbes to the causation of a variety of ailments. As a result, scientists began to devote time to searching for drugs that would kill these disease-causing bacteria.

1871
The surgeon Joseph Lister, began researching the phenomenon that urine contaminated with mold would not allow the successful growth of bacteria.
1890s
German doctors, Rudolf Emmerich and Oscar Low were the first to make an effective medication that they called pyocyanase from microbes. It was the first antibiotic to be used in hospitals. However, the drug often did not work.
1928
Sir Alexander Fleming observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, demonstrating antibacterial properties.
1935
Prontosil, the first sulfa drug, was discovered in 1935 by German chemist Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964).
1942
The manufacturing process for Penicillin G Procaine was invented by Howard Florey (1898–1968) and Ernst Chain (1906–1979). Penicillin could now be sold as a drug. Fleming, Florey, and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for medicine for their work on penicillin.
1943
In 1943, American microbiologist Selman Waksman (1888–1973) made the drug streptomycin from soil bacteria, the first of a new class of drugs called aminoglycosides. Streptomycin could treat diseases like tuberculosis, however, the side effects were often too severe.



Streptomycin saved my Mum's life when I was 9 and she was 30, if it hadn't come into use we'd have lost her.

PS, Marmite was invented in 1902, Vegemite not until 1922. And Vegemite is Marmite for woosies lol

OK, I give in, my Dad is bigger than your Dad lol:

British inventions:

Alan Turing.
Universal machine
the theoretical basis for all computers

The theoretical basis for all modern computers was laid down when Alan Turing (1912-54) imagined a ‘universal machine’ in his 1936 paper ‘On co...


BMC Mini
highly influential small car design

The Mini represented a unique advance in motorcar design when it was introduced in 1959 by the British Motor Corporation.

William Henry Bragg .
X-ray crystallography technique
revealing the atomic structure of materials

Bell
Discovery of Pulsars
radio beams from dead stars

These cosmic lighthouses were found by accident while a University of Cambridge team was looking for twinkling sources of radio waves

Mallard
fastest steam train in the world

On July 3rd 1938, A4 class locomotive Mallard sped down Stoke Bank on the East Coast Main Line in Lincolnshire at 126mph, setting a new locomotive record.

Tim Berners-Lee.
World Wide Web
connecting the planet

The World Wide Web, which has transformed the way we access information and communicate with one another, was born when scientists sought more efficient ways to share data. Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), an engineer and computer scientist from London, and Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau (born 1947) launched a project at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research near Geneva, to create a system of interlinked - ‘hypertext’ - documents that could be accessed via global computer networks.

Berners-Lee had initially described a system of linking information through hyperlinks in a paper called ‘ENQUIRE’ in 1989. His boss at CERN scribbled ‘vague but exciting’ on the top of the paper. Berners-Lee then hosted the first web page in December 1990 and, although it took some time for the world to realise its relevance, the World Wide Web and simple access to the internet was born.

On 27 July 2012, Tim Berners-Lee was honoured as the ‘inventor of the World Wide Web’ at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games.

Liquid Crystal Displays
Our lives are full of digital displays: clocks, watches, DVD players and computer or TV screens. Many of these make use of liquid crystal displays


Polyethylene synthesis
accidental discovery became one of the world's most used plastics

This polymer was discovered in March 1933, by Reginald Gibson (1902-83) and Eric Fawcett (1908-87) of Imperial Chemical Industries


Penicillin discovery
the world’s first antibiotic drug

The first antibiotic drug was revealed when Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), a bacteriologist working at St Mary’s Medical School

Concorde
the first supersonic passenger airliner to enter regular service



A zoomed-in photograph of a microchip.
ARM chip
found in most of world's smartphones and tablets

The ARM (advanced RISC machine) processor is a family of processors used in devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers.

Double helix
the ‘secret of life’

Biotechnology, genetic engineering and synthetic biology, all frontiers of research in the 21st century, owe their origins to this


Colossus
the world’s first digital electronic computer

The Colossus was the world’s first digital electronic computer. Designed by Tommy Flowers (1905-98) at the Post Office Research Station

Genetic fingerprinting
revealing our unique DNA profile

At 09.05 on 10 September 1984, in a laboratory at the University of Leicester, the world’s first genetic fingerprint was revealed


Stem-cell
finding the blueprint for all human cells

Martin Evans (born 1941) conducted pioneering work at University of Cambridge on stem cells


DNA sequencing technique
revealing the genetic code

The most common method used to ‘read’ DNA code to reveal the genetic ‘recipe’ of an organism was developed in Cambridge.


Randomised Controlled Trial
the key to evidence based medicine

In the 1940s the Medical Research Council (MRC) pioneered the development of the randomised control trial. This is the gold standard for a clinical research

Tensar/Netlon
fabrics of modern society

Netlon and Tensar are materials that are woven into much of the fabric of the modern world;


Jet engine
faster and higher aeroplanes

Frank Whittle (1907-96) was a cadet in the Royal Air Force in 1928 when he came up with an idea for a jet engine.


Crystallography of biomolecules
revealing the workings of nature’s smallest machines

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-94) advanced the methods used to study atoms and molecules in living things


Peter Medawar.
Anti-rejection therapy
the key to successful organ transplants

Organ donation has revolutionised the way we treat organ failure and many other illnesses:


ThrustSSC
first car to break the sound barrier

Developed by Richard Noble (1946- ), and a team of engineers, ThrustSSC set the Land Speed Record on the 15th October 1997.


Catseye road marking
a guide for night time drivers

The inventor of 'catseye' roadstud was Percy Shaw (1890-1976) of Halifax, West Yorkshire.


LEO I
the first business computer

The LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) was the first computer used for commercial business applications.


Cloned frog
the first animal cloned from a mature cell by
at the age of only 25, John Gurdon (born 1933) of the University of Oxford

Andrew Wiles
Proof of Fermat's last theorem
the solution to a 350 year old mathematical problem

Prime number theory and Fermat’s last theorem are today essential for modern cryptography and computer security


Strong carbon fibre
key to reinforced plastic


Optical fibre
information arteries of today’s society

Optical fibres facilitate broadband communication that enables music, images and video to be transferred around the globe in a split second.


‘Baby’ Small Scale Experimental Machine
the first stored-program electronic digital computer

The Small Scale Experimental Machine, nicknamed the ‘Baby’ computer, was developed as a research prototype to prove the concept of digital storage


Pioneering facial surgery
paving the way for modern plastic surgery

The origins of modern plastic surgery, now in everyday use to repair a damaged body, can be traced to WWII


MRI scanner
revealing the inside of the human body

While X-rays give detailed pictures of bones, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reveals disease in soft tissue.


Baird's original TV apparatus
the world’s first demonstration of true television

In his home in Hastings, self-employed inventor John Logie Baird (1888-1946) sought the means to transmit and receive images.


Hovercraft
travelling on a cushion of air

In the 19th century it was recognised that ships wasted a great deal of energy on the friction between the hull and the water.

Donald Davies
Packet switch
foundation of the internet

Packet switching is the process by which all data (regardless of content, type or structure) is broken into suitable blocks or ‘packets’


CT scanner
revealing the mysteries of the living human body

Before the invention of the CT (computerised tomography) scanner, it was impossible to see the structures inside the human brain

Robert Watson-Watt
Radar
Winning technology for the Battle of Britain

Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) led the British development of radar (radio detection and ranging)

.
In vitro fertilisation
the first ‘test-tube baby’

In vitro fertilisation, better known by the initials IVF, means ‘fertilisation in a glass’ and is now a standard procedure


Charnley hip joint
the first practical hip replacement

A persistent squeak led a Manchester orthopaedic surgeon to develop a revolutionary medical technology.


Plate tectonics theory
the motion, formation and recycling of Earth’s crust

Dan McKenzie (born 1942), a Cambridge geophysicist, developed the theory of plate tectonics

1911 Ernest Rutherford
Splitting of the atom
the first artificial nuclear reaction


First successful atomic clock
world’s most accurate timekeeper

In 1955, Louis Essen (1908-97), assisted by Jack Parry at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, built the first atomatic clock


Monoclonal antibodies
manufactured antibodies that revolutionised the biotechnology industry


Dolly the sheep
the first mammal cloned from an adult cell

Dolly, born on 5 July 1996, was the first mammal cloned using an adult cell.

Predicting antimatter
when theory revealed half the universe

The father of antimatter was the University of Cambridge physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984).


Finite element method
key to computer simulations


This powerful method for dividing a complicated engineering problem into manageable pieces has revolutionised design and analysis


Pilot ACE
making the ‘universal machine’ a reality

The Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) was the first physical manifestation of the ‘universal machine’


Test for Einstein’s theory of relativity
showing that space-time can warp


Neutron
revealing the structure of the atom


David Payne
Laser
the basis of optical communications


Calder Hall station
the world’s first commercial nuclear power station

Harry Ferguson (1884-1960)
Three-point linkage system
revolutionising agriculture


Development of ‘float’ glass
the process at the heart of the world’s glass industry

Alastair Pilkington (1920-95) set out to find an economical technique for making high-quality plate glass


Francis William Aston
Mass spectrograph
the smallest ‘weighing scales’ of all


3D displays
first mass produced device that did not need glasses

In 2002 Sharp, released the first mass-produced device to feature a 3D screen that could be viewed without wearing glasses.



Robert May
Biological Chaos
finding mathematical order in ecology


Bone replacement
a new synthetic material for repairing bones

In 1996 William Bonfield (born 1937) and colleagues at Queen Mary, University of London developed a synthetic bone graft material

Trevor Baylis
Wind-up radio
putting clockwork to powerful uses

John Walker (born 1941)
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
ATP enzyme
the energy-producing motor of the human body


John Maynard Smith
Evolutionarily stable strategies
placing evolutionary thinking on a mathematical basis

John Maynard Smith (1920-2004) of the University of Sussex, along with George R Price (1922-75), developed a new theory


Mary Lucy Cartwright.
Origin of Chaos
when radar research detected a new theory

The effort to develop radar in the Second World War provided early insights into what would come to be called ‘chaos theory’,


Hawking radiation
a surprising discovery on the path to a new theory of quantum gravity



Ferranti Mark 1
the first commercial general-purpose electronic computer

The Ferranti Mark 1 ushered in the era of commercial computing.


Quicksort algorithm
the time-saving algorithm
Tony Hoare (1934- )


Model CP1
the world’s first automatic coffeepot
When William Russell (1920-2006) and Peter Hobbs (1916-2008) came together to form Russell Hobbs they created a series of innovative appliances


Tilting train
negotiating tight curves at high speeds

Tilting mechanisms allow trains to negotiate tight curves and travel at high speeds along our rail network.


Cavity magnetron
key to airborne radar and microwave ovens

The prototype of the cavity magnetron was invented by John Randall (1905-84) and Harry Boot (1917-83) at the University of Birmingham in 1940.



Dual cyclone vacuum cleaner
a design that does not lose suction

Frustrated with the performance of traditional vacuum cleaners, James Dyson (1947- ) decided to design his own.


Bicycle with small wheels and larger white frame.
Moulton Bicycle
an important step in bicycle design
In 1962 Alex Moulton (1920-2012) exhibited a new type of bicycle at the Earls Court Cycle show.


Photon Detector Assembly
a camera for observing the faintest cosmic objects

The Photon Detector Assembly (PDA) instrument from the Hubble Space Telescope was used in the telescope’s faint-object camera


Artificial seeding
revolutionising the Japanese seaweed industry
Kathleen Drew-Baker (1901-57), a biologist at the University of Manchester, pioneered artificial seeding techniques.



Ultrasound scanner
transforming antenatal care


Maglev
the wheel-less rail system

Maglev trains use electromagnetic systems to ‘levitate’ rail carriages above tracks to create a fully friction-less and wheel-less rail system

Dennis Gabor
Holography
inventing the 3D image

Holography is a technique which enables three-dimensional images, known as holograms, to be made.


Scanning electron microscope
the most powerful microscope ever made
In the 1950s and early 1960s Charles Oatley (1904-1996) and his group at the Engineering Laboratories at the University of Cambridge


Electron capture detector
a sensitive way to spot pollutants
Independent scientist James Lovelock (born 1919) developed a highly sensitive electron capture detector in 1956 to detect a range of substances



Magnetic band
the first scientific test of ocean floor spreading
Cambridge geophysicists Fred Vine (born 1939) and Drummond Matthews (1931-97)

‘LEO’.
Showing singularities really exist
places where the laws of physics do not apply

Stephen Hawking (born 1942) and Roger Penrose (born 1931) from the University of Cambridge


Vitamin
discovering the key to growth and health
Vitamins are naturally occurring and found in many foods but their existence was only discovered in 1912.


Pegasus engine
key to vertical takeoff and landing
In the 1950s the next great challenge for aeroplane design was to produce a craft that could achieve vertical takeoff.


Thermostatically controlled oven
how cooking became a science

In 1923 a thermostat-controlled flue oven designed for the Radiation ‘New World’ H16 marked the greatest single advance in the design of gas cookers


Laser opthalmoscope
providing early detection of eye disease and defects

The laser opthalmoscope was invented by Douglas Anderson (born 1951) when his five year old son was blinded in one eye after a retinal detachment


Hartree differential analyser
a machine to solve complex equations

Differential equations have numerous applications in engineering, chemistry, biology and economics.



‘Merry-go-round’ wagon
making power stations more efficient

The ‘merry-go-round’ train revolutionised the way Britain was powered in the 1960s by making the delivery of coal more efficient.


PCM
Pulse Code Modulation
Foundation of digital telecommunications

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) was invented by Alec Reeves in 1937 while developing radio telephones for transatlantic calls.


Vickers Vimy Biplane
first non-stop transatlantic flight



Emitron TV camera
used by the world’s first regular television service

The Emitron camera was the first electronic television camera in the world to be applied in regular 'high definition' broadcasting.

Terylene polyester synthesis
the stuff of synthetic fibres, containers and much more

The polymer was described as ‘just a few grams of dirty-looking stuff like treacle’ when it was presented to Imperial Chemicals



So, is my Dad bigger than your Dad?

Quite impressive.  But I notice you count all of the steps in between.  For example, the web was established by Stanford University, with connections with UCLA.  The first communication was between Stanford and UCLA.

Stanford's early involvement in computers is the reason why silicon valley is located in the Bay Area in the first place.  Indeed, SUN Microsystems stands for Stanford University Network Microsystems.

BTW, the money behind the WWW was the US military.  They were looking for a decentralized way to keep up communications, even in the event of a catastrophic bomb or other annihilation.  Who knew it would  take off like it did in the civil world.

We all know who built the first television, A-bomb, H-bomb, airplane, submarine, computer, perfected mass production and found the cure for polio.  Have you guys done anything since you lost the Suez Canal?  Lol.

Sassy wrote:.............................................
Late 1800s
The search for antibiotics began in the late 1800s, with the growing acceptance of the germ theory of disease, a theory which linked bacteria and other microbes to the causation of a variety of ailments. As a result, scientists began to devote time to searching for drugs that would kill these disease-causing bacteria.
1871
The surgeon Joseph Lister, began researching the phenomenon that urine contaminated with mold would not allow the successful growth of bacteria........

Sir Alexander Fleming observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, demonstrating antibacterial properties................
1935
The manufacturing process for Penicillin G Procaine was invented by Howard Florey (1898–1968) and Ernst Chain (1906–1979). Penicillin could now be sold as a drug. Fleming, Florey, and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for medicine for their work on penicillin.......................

  

Wikipedia wrote:
Howard Florey, Baron Florey of Adelaide OM FRS FRCP[1] (24 September 1898 – 21 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the making of penicillin. Although Fleming received most of the credit for the discovery of Penicillin, it was in fact Florey who carried out the first ever clinical trials in 1941 of penicillin at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford on the first patient, a Postmaster from Wolvercote near Oxford. The patient started to recover but unfortunately subsequently died because Florey had not made enough penicillin. Florey's discoveries are estimated to have saved over 82 million lives.[3] Florey is regarded by the Australian scientific and medical community as one of its greatest scientists. Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister, said that "In terms of world well-being, Florey was the most important man ever born in Australia".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Florey

      

who invented the greatest invention off all? Boob Jobs?

they totally win this argument

Donno...it's neck-n-neck with Viagra. Without it...ain't nothin' happens.

Silicons boobs and assisted erections, sounds very American.

Yes, it sounds very anti Amercian

Original Quill wrote:

Sassy wrote:Boys, boys, boys.   Can we rename this thread, My Dad's bigger than your Dad?

A bit more America bashing, sassy?  Tell me, what bothers you more, the jealousy or your loss of competitiveness?

That was a bit anti-British wasn't it Quill, however the list I put up more that showed you who can compete. I don't think silicon and viagra quite cut it against MRI's, ultra sound, CTs etc. We even invented the loo lol

Original Quill wrote:Quite impressive.  But I notice you count all of the steps in between.  For example, the web was established by Stanford University, with connections with UCLA.  The first communication was between Stanford and UCLA.

Stanford's early involvement in computers is the reason why silicon valley is located in the Bay Area in the first place.  Indeed, SUN Microsystems stands for Stanford University Network Microsystems.

BTW, the money behind the WWW was the US military.  They were looking for a decentralized way to keep up communications, even in the event of a catastrophic bomb or other annihilation.  Who knew it would  take off like it did in the civil world.

We all know who built the first television, A-bomb, H-bomb, airplane, submarine, computer, perfected mass production and found the cure for polio.  Have you guys done anything since you lost the Suez Canal?  Lol.

I personally don't believe an American invented the aeroplane - there were many others attempting to fly them before the Wright brothers (however, I'm sure they were testing them for years too).

From Wikipedia:

The first submersible of whose construction we have reliable information was built in 1620 by Cornelius Drebbel, a Dutchman in the service of James I of England. It was created to the standards of the design outlined by English mathematician William Bourne.[citation needed] It was propelled by means of oars. The precise nature of the submarine type is a matter of some controversy; some claim[by whom?] that it was merely a bell towed by a boat.

By the mid 18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England.


I must congratulate you guys for the A-bomb and H-bomb then    

Original Quill wrote:Quite impressive.  But I notice you count all of the steps in between.  For example, the web was established by Stanford University, with connections with UCLA.  The first communication was between Stanford and UCLA.

Stanford's early involvement in computers is the reason why silicon valley is located in the Bay Area in the first place.  Indeed, SUN Microsystems stands for Stanford University Network Microsystems.

BTW, the money behind the WWW was the US military.  They were looking for a decentralized way to keep up communications, even in the event of a catastrophic bomb or other annihilation.  Who knew it would  take off like it did in the civil world.

We all know who built the first television, A-bomb, H-bomb, airplane, submarine, computer, perfected mass production and found the cure for polio.  Have you guys done anything since you lost the Suez Canal?  Lol.

Who did invent the first television, Quim?

From dear old Wiki BA:

The beginnings of mechanical television can be traced back to the discovery of the photoconductivity of the element selenium by Willoughby Smith in 1873, the invention of a scanning disk by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow in 1884 and John Logie Baird's demonstration of televised moving images in 1926.

As a 23-year-old German university student, Nipkow proposed and patented the first electromechanical television system in 1884.[1] Although he never built a working model of the system, variations of Nipkow's spinning-disk "image rasterizer" for television became exceedingly common, and remained in use until 1939.[2] Constantin Perskyi had coined the word television in a paper read to the International Electricity Congress at the International World Fair in Paris on August 25, 1900. Perskyi's paper reviewed the existing electromechanical technologies, mentioning the work of Nipkow and others.[3] However, it was not until 1907 that developments in amplification tube technology, by Lee de Forest and Arthur Korn among others, made the design practical.[4]

The first demonstration of the instantaneous transmission of images was by Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier in Paris in 1909. A matrix of 64 selenium cells, individually wired to a mechanical commutator, served as an electronic retina. In the receiver, a type of Kerr cell modulated the light and a series of variously angled mirrors attached to the edge of a rotating disc scanned the modulated beam onto the display screen. A separate circuit regulated synchronization. The 8x8 pixel resolution in this proof-of-concept demonstration was just sufficient to clearly transmit individual letters of the alphabet. An updated image was transmitted "several times" each second.[5]

In 1911, Boris Rosing and his student Vladimir Zworykin created a television system that used a mechanical mirror-drum scanner to transmit, in Zworykin's words, "very crude images" over wires to the "Braun tube" (cathode ray tube or "CRT") in the receiver. Moving images were not possible because, in the scanner, "the sensitivity was not enough and the selenium cell was very laggy".[6]

On March 25, 1925, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of televised silhouette images in motion, at Selfridge's Department Store in London.[7] AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories transmitted halftone still images of transparencies in May 1925. On June 13 of that year, Charles Francis Jenkins transmitted the silhouette image of a toy windmill in motion, over a distance of five miles from a naval radio station in Maryland to his laboratory in Washington, D.C., using a lensed disk scanner with a 48-line resolution.[8][9]

However, if television is defined as the live transmission of moving images with continuous tonal variation, Baird first achieved this privately on October 2, 1925. But strictly speaking, Baird had not yet achieved moving images for his scanner worked at only five images per second, below the threshold required to give the illusion of motion, usually defined as at least 12 images per second. By January, he had improved the scan rate to 12.5 images per second.[citation needed] Then on January 26, 1926 Baird gave what is widely recognized as being the world's first demonstration of a working television system, to members of the Royal Institution and a newspaper reporter from The Times, at his laboratory in 22 Frith Street, Soho, London.[10] Unlike later electronic systems with several hundred lines of resolution, Baird's vertically scanned image, using a scanning disk embedded with a double spiral of lenses, had only 30 lines, just enough to reproduce a recognizable human face.

In 1927, Baird transmitted a signal over 438 miles (705 km) of telephone line between London and Glasgow. In 1928, Baird's company (Baird Television Development Company/Cinema Television) broadcast the first transatlantic television signal, between London and New York, and the first shore-to-ship transmission. He also demonstrated an electromechanical color, infrared (dubbed "Noctovision"), and stereoscopic television, using additional lenses, disks and filters. In parallel, Baird developed a video disk recording system dubbed "Phonovision"; a number of the Phonovision recordings, dating back to 1927, still exist.[11] In 1929, he became involved in the first experimental electromechanical television service in Germany. In November of the same year, Baird and Bernard Natan of Pathé established France's first television company, Télévision-Baird-Natan. In 1931, he made the first outdoor remote broadcast, of the Epsom Derby.[12] In 1932, he demonstrated ultra-short wave television. Baird's electromechanical system reached a peak of 240-lines of resolution on BBC television broadcasts in 1936 though the mechanical system did not scan the televised scene directly. Instead a 17.5mm film was shot, rapidly developed and then scanned while the film was still wet. On November 2, 1936 the BBC began transmitting the world's first public television service from the Victorian Alexandra Palace in north London[13] following alternate daily test broadcasts of the Baird and Marconi systems to the Radio Show at Olympia at the end of August. It therefore claims to be the birthplace of television broadcasting as we know it today. The intermediate film system was discontinued within three months in favour of a 405-line all-electronic system developed by Marconi-EMI.[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_television

Computer:

First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept

In 1822, Charles Babbage purposed and began developing the Difference Engine, considered to be the first automatic computing engine that was capable of computing several sets of numbers and making hard copies of the results. Unfortunately, because of funding he was never able to complete a full-scale functional version of this machine. In June of 1991, the London Science Museum completed the Difference Engine No 2 for the bicentennial year of Babbage's birth and later completed the printing mechanism in 2000.

Analytical EngineLater, in 1837 Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory and is the first general-purpose computer concept. Unfortunately, because of funding issues this computer was also never built while Charles Babbage's was alive. In 1910, Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage's youngest son was able to complete a portion of this machine and was able to perform basic calculations.
First programmable computer

The Z1, originally created by Germany's Konrad Zuse in his parents living room in 1936 to 1938 and is considered to be the first electro-mechanical binary programmable (modern) computer and really the first functional computer.
First concepts of what we consider a modern computer

The Turing machine was first proposed by the Alan Turing in 1936 and became the foundation for theories about computing and computers. The machine was a device that printed symbols on paper tape in a manner that emulated a person following a series of logical instructions. Without these fundamentals, we wouldn't have the computers we use today.
The first electric programmable computer

The Colossus was the first electric programmable computer and was developed by Tommy Flowers and first demonstrated in December 1943. The Colossus was created to help the British code breakers read encrypted German messages.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm

Yeah I know Sassy - I'm confused - was Quim listing things NOT invented by Americans?

Even the polio vaccines were invented by European immigrants, I think??

Hate to say it Andy, but they didn't do the A bomb by themselves either.

During World War II, the United States, with the assistance (collaboration) of physicists, mathematicians, and engineers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Europe, completed the Manhattan Project to produce the first atomic bomb.
(The project started as the "Manhattan District Engineers" and only became "The Manhattan Project" some time later).

There was some early speculation about the possibility of what could be done if a nuclear chain reaction was unleashed in a way that would allow it to build without control. For a roll call, consider that Robert Oppenheimer was the head of "science" for the Manhattan Project, and (in alphabetical order) Felix Block, David Bohm, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs, Rudolf Peierls, Emilio Segre, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner all played crucial roles in getting the weapon designed and built.

Sassy wrote:Hate to say it Andy, but they didn't do the A bomb by themselves either.

During World War II, the United States, with the assistance (collaboration) of physicists, mathematicians, and engineers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Europe, completed the Manhattan Project to produce the first atomic bomb.
(The project started as the "Manhattan District Engineers" and only became "The Manhattan Project" some time later).

There was some early speculation about the possibility of what could be done if a nuclear chain reaction was unleashed in a way that would allow it to build without control. For a roll call, consider that Robert Oppenheimer was the head of "science" for the Manhattan Project, and (in alphabetical order) Felix Block, David Bohm, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs, Rudolf Peierls, Emilio Segre, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner all played crucial roles in getting the weapon designed and built.

I would have to give them that - it's quite clear that Robert Oppenheimer was the main man.

Like I said - bombs and bigger bombs.

 :::hitler: 

BigAndy9 wrote:Yeah I know Sassy - I'm confused - was Quim listing things NOT invented by Americans?

Even the polio vaccines were invented by European immigrants, I think??

No BA, Jonas Edward Salk was born in New York, his parents were immigrants, so Quill can claim that one. However, if we didn't have ultra sound, MRI and CT scans, modern medicine simply would not exist.

Sassy wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:Yeah I know Sassy - I'm confused - was Quim listing things NOT invented by Americans?

Even the polio vaccines were invented by European immigrants, I think??

No BA, Jonas Edward Salk was born in New York, his parents were immigrants, so Quill can claim that one.   However, if we didn't have ultra sound, MRI and CT scans, modern medicine simply would not exist.

Maybe I just heard the name!   

BigAndy9 wrote:

Sassy wrote:

No BA, Jonas Edward Salk was born in New York, his parents were immigrants, so Quill can claim that one.   However, if we didn't have ultra sound, MRI and CT scans, modern medicine simply would not exist.

Maybe I just heard the name!     

Well, it's what you normally do, so I expect you did     

groomsy wrote:who invented the greatest invention off all? Boob Jobs?

they totally win this argument

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/implants/cron.html

Well it seems Texans can claim the modern type, but like so many thing we have to thank Japanese prostitutes for the Idea.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenz_Czerny
BUT THE GRANDDADDY IS
Vincenz Czerny (19 November 1842 – 3 October 1916) was a German Bohemian surgeon whose main contributions were in the fields of oncological and gynecological surgery.

Czerny was born in Trutnov, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He initially studied at Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague, later transferring to the University of Vienna, where he was a student of Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke (1819–1892). In 1866 he graduated summa cum laude. Afterwards, he remained in Vienna as an assistant to Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (1808–1871) and Theodor Billroth (1829–1894). In 1871 he became a clinical director at the University of Freiburg.

wike wrote:Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer.[2] He made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television. He is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector", as well as the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. He was also the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public.[3][4] Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the firm of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to 1951

The problem with you sassy, is you go into an infinite regress until you find someone British. and then you exclaim, Aha, it was a Brit.

Under that approach, all inventions were by Galileo, and hence Italian.  After all, Galileo invented the resolutive composite method, upon which all of science depends.

veya_victaous wrote:

groomsy wrote:who invented the greatest invention off all? Boob Jobs?

they totally win this argument

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/implants/cron.html

Well it seems Texans can claim the modern type, but like so many thing we have to thank Japanese prostitutes for the Idea.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenz_Czerny
BUT THE GRANDDADDY IS
Vincenz Czerny (19 November 1842 – 3 October 1916) was a German Bohemian surgeon whose main contributions were in the fields of oncological and gynecological surgery.

Czerny was born in Trutnov, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He initially studied at Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague, later transferring to the University of Vienna, where he was a student of Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke (1819–1892). In 1866 he graduated summa cum laude. Afterwards, he remained in Vienna as an assistant to Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (1808–1871) and Theodor Billroth (1829–1894). In 1871 he became a clinical director at the University of Freiburg.

"Everything is bigger in Texas" isn't just a phrase, it's the law.

Sooo...don't mess with Texas,

is an anti-petting law?

Or, are you just back on viagra?

Original Quill wrote:Sooo...don't mess with Texas,

is an anti-petting law?

Or, are you just back on viagra?

Huh-wha?

 

NO sign yet of that old sad sack eddie censoring everyone in this thread for their use of italics, bold lettering and colours in their posts ???

Must just be moi that she likes to scold in her most abrasive school-marmish manner, then..    ::dunno::