4 ms·
I would be surprised if many Brits know of ARM as a British success story. Ditto for Raspberry Pi or Deepmind. These things are just not celebrated, it seems.
by hnhg 3y ago
I would be surprised if many Brits know of ARM as a British success story. Ditto for Raspberry Pi or Deepmind. These things are just not celebrated, it seems.
- pjc50 3y agoIf you ask people in the street to name a famous living British technologist, they might come up with Tim Berners-Lee or James Dyson, but they are never going to name Sophie Wilson. (I wonder what answers you would get?)
- frutiger 3y agoAlan Turing (on the £5 note) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel maybe?
- pjc50 3y agoYes - hence the more interesting qualifier "living"
- michaelt 3y agoAlas pjc50 specified living British technologists. I mean, Britain has many great technologists if you're willing to count the likes of Arkwright (died 1792), Babbage (died 1871), Watt (died 1819), Faraday (died 1867), Randall (died 1984), Bell (died 1922), Harrison (died 1776), Logie Baird (died 1946), Stephenson (died 1848) etc But some would say if a country's list of technology greats has so many dead people on it, perhaps that country's glory days are over.
- extraduder_ire 3y ago£50 pound note, william churchill is the one on the £5 note. This is burned into my brain. because I heard a joke when the redesign came out about him going from not being accepted by his country to not being accepted in Lidl. (£50 notes are often refused in the UK for fear of counterfeit.)
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoIt is upsetting to me but you are right, they'd know Dyson. (I wish they would instead know the name Chris Duncan, the inventor of the Henry vacuum cleaner and while still a Brexiteer, a man who hasn't subsequently kicked dirt in the eye of the UK). They wouldn't remember Tim Berners-Lee's actual name but they would be able to say, the web guy. (Which is probably better for him when he goes shopping).
- pjc50 3y agoTBL was in the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony! But yes, few people who actually _build_ things, get to be famous public figures. Possibly due to being too busy to engage with the media nonsense or even worse social media nonsense.
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoHe was indeed :-) But I suspect more people could recognise his charming unassuming face than remember his actual name.
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoA decent number of Brits know about the Raspberry Pi, but it is true to say that a hell of a lot more know what the BBC micro:bit is. None of them would recognise Eben Upton (except as Jason Statham)