4 ms·

Turing's bombe pips Concorde in mechanical engineers' poll

29 points by buro9 12y ago

buro9 12y ago
Strange, I only submitted this to give context to the other thing I submitted which is the story of the RB211 Rolls Royce engine that bankrupted the company and yet helped it to be re-born as a stronger entity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420407 As an added bonus, having stumbled upon the story of the RB211 from the short mention in the above-linked BBC article, there is a free talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London by a former Director or Engineering at Rolls Royce on the RB211, the engineering feat that it was to produce it and the company at that time... the talk is on the 10th November 2014, and the link is in the other discussion thread that is linked above. PS: Nice to see that HN really has a soft spot for Turing.
- louthy 12y ago
  > PS: Nice to see that HN really has a soft spot for Turing. One of the original hackers surely?
  - buro9 12y ago
    Pythagoras would have that crown IMHO, Turing was relatively recent. I wonder whether there can be said to be some overlap between the non-Dialectic philosophers of old and the pioneers of computing.
  - JonnieCache 12y ago
    Babbage and Lovelace were earlier. But as buro9 says, the greeks have them beat, as always.
cholmon 12y ago
I had to read the article to understand what on earth the title means. I guess "pips" is slang for "beats" or "surpasses"? It's also interesting that Turing's "bombe" is not capitalized, even in its Wikipedia article, while its counterpart, "Enigma", is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe
- jgrahamc 12y ago
  Yes, it's informal British language: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pip?q=pips#pip-6 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pip?q=p... "Defeat by a small margin or at the last moment"
  - deleted 12y ago
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rwmj 12y ago
By coincidence I just finished "New Shape in the Sky" which is a pretty good book about the development of Concorde. There are two versions -- a 1982 version which you can pick up for 1p + postage from Amazon, and a recent version which is super expensive. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concorde-New-Shape-Ken-Owen/dp/0710602138 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concorde-New-Shape-Ken-Owen/dp/07106... Sadly I never had enough money to travel on Concorde, so it looks like I will never travel faster than sound [relative to the surface of the earth anyway].
- aedocw 12y ago
  If you're interested in the Concorde, this thread on an aviation forum is incredible. Starts with a guy asking why there was no auxiliary power unit onboard, and shortly turns into a rolling conversation including original design engineers, pilots, flight engineers and cabin crew. Super entertaining! http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html
mietek 12y ago
It would have been nice to mention that the Turing bombe was an improvement on the earlier “bomba”, invented by the Marian Rejewski. The Beeb even attempted a recent article about it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28167071 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28167071 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomba_(cryptography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomba_(cryptography)
JonnieCache 12y ago
Don't miss the bit at the bottom about Crossness Engine House. Jawdropping. That thing was the datacenter of its day. But it looks like a church! https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Crossness+pumping+station https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Crossness+pumping+station

29 points by buro9 12y ago

buro9 12y ago

Strange, I only submitted this to give context to the other thing I submitted which is the story of the RB211 Rolls Royce engine that bankrupted the company and yet helped it to be re-born as a stronger entity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420407 As an added bonus, having stumbled upon the story of the RB211 from the short mention in the above-linked BBC article, there is a free talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London by a former Director or Engineering at Rolls Royce on the RB211, the engineering feat that it was to produce it and the company at that time... the talk is on the 10th November 2014, and the link is in the other discussion thread that is linked above. PS: Nice to see that HN really has a soft spot for Turing.

louthy 12y ago
> PS: Nice to see that HN really has a soft spot for Turing. One of the original hackers surely?
- buro9 12y ago
  Pythagoras would have that crown IMHO, Turing was relatively recent. I wonder whether there can be said to be some overlap between the non-Dialectic philosophers of old and the pioneers of computing.
- JonnieCache 12y ago
  Babbage and Lovelace were earlier. But as buro9 says, the greeks have them beat, as always.

cholmon 12y ago

I had to read the article to understand what on earth the title means. I guess "pips" is slang for "beats" or "surpasses"? It's also interesting that Turing's "bombe" is not capitalized, even in its Wikipedia article, while its counterpart, "Enigma", is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe

jgrahamc 12y ago
Yes, it's informal British language: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pip?q=pips#pip-6 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pip?q=p... "Defeat by a small margin or at the last moment"
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deleted 12y ago
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rwmj 12y ago

By coincidence I just finished "New Shape in the Sky" which is a pretty good book about the development of Concorde. There are two versions -- a 1982 version which you can pick up for 1p + postage from Amazon, and a recent version which is super expensive. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concorde-New-Shape-Ken-Owen/dp/0710602138 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concorde-New-Shape-Ken-Owen/dp/07106... Sadly I never had enough money to travel on Concorde, so it looks like I will never travel faster than sound [relative to the surface of the earth anyway].

aedocw 12y ago
If you're interested in the Concorde, this thread on an aviation forum is incredible. Starts with a guy asking why there was no auxiliary power unit onboard, and shortly turns into a rolling conversation including original design engineers, pilots, flight engineers and cabin crew. Super entertaining! http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html

mietek 12y ago

It would have been nice to mention that the Turing bombe was an improvement on the earlier “bomba”, invented by the Marian Rejewski. The Beeb even attempted a recent article about it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28167071 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28167071 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomba_(cryptography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomba_(cryptography)

JonnieCache 12y ago

Don't miss the bit at the bottom about Crossness Engine House. Jawdropping. That thing was the datacenter of its day. But it looks like a church! https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Crossness+pumping+station https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Crossness+pumping+station