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Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

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Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#52

Post by WaxProlix »

ddingus wrote: post #34
api wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the first polymorphic viruses had very advanced code translation engines, basically JITs before they were common. I wonder if any JIT concepts were invented there? One example is the DAME which stands for Dark Avenger Mutation Engine. It could recompile DOS viruses into equivalent but different machine code on the fly, including the mutation engine itself .

Link? That is super interesting to me.

Google yields this http://virus.wikidot.com/dark-avenger-mutation-engine

But it sounds a bit more prosaic than OP made it out to be (maybe it's incomplete?)

Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#53

Post by kristopolous »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #42

Many women published research under pseudonyms in the past, for example Sophie Germain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain So I'd argue that many past inventions that are credited to men might actually have been achieved by women scientists publishing under their husbands / colleagues / friends name as a pseudonym. In Paris I once saw an original print of Marie Curie's book on radioactivity, where her name…

The 1911 Solvay Conference photo illustrates just how exceptional a woman scientist was then: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvay_Conference she's there at the table with Henri Poincaré.

Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#54

Post by anonlurking »

cosmic_ape wrote: post #43
swaggyBoatswain wrote: post #36

anonymous 4chan user solving a 25 year old math problem https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/24/18019464/4chan-anon-anim...

Describing this as 25 year old math problem is a bit misleading. There might have been two or three otherwise not noted mathematicians that have looked at the problem a couple of times after dinner during the last 25 years -- is a better description.

Can you explain how you know that?

Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#55

Post by raverbashing »

darkmighty wrote: post #45
Jeremy1026 wrote: post #2

The wheel is an uncredited invention that almost all of humanity uses multiple times a day.

I find the bearing more significant than the wheel: without a good bearing its utility is limited. They have a rich history it seems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearing_(mechanical)#History

True, but to invent the bearing you need to invent the wheel first

Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#56

Post by blihp »

Historically, most 'for hire' inventions (i.e. invented by employees of a corporation) have been relatively anonymous. This also often extends to suppliers to major corporations. Every now and then you'll hear the story about how person X working at corporation Y invented something you'd recognize. (usually after they've retired or otherwise left the company... funny how that works) But generally the inventors don't receive much, if any, public credit or monetary reward. Granted, Bitcoin is rather unique in that the author has worked to stay anonymous but is effectively only slightly more so than most other inventors working for someone else.

edit: sure, you'll often (but not always) see the actual inventor's name listed in patent applications... along with their manager(s), one or more executives, the lunch cook etc.

Re: Ask HN: Famous anonymous inventions other than Bitcoin?

#58

Post by joubert »

Interesting prompt. Researching, I discovered “The Invention Secrecy Act” — you can read more about it here https://slate.com/technology/2018/05/the-thousands-of-secret...

“Invention secrecy in the U.S. dates back to at least the 1930s, but it really took off in the ’40s, when the development of nuclear weapons was shrouded in classification. It became official policy in 1952 with the Invention Secrecy Act, which allows USPTO to keep patents deemed “detrimental to the national security” on lockdown. Under the act, USPTO’s commissioner of patents became empowered to flag patent applications—even those developed by private citizens—for review by government defense agencies, which could request that certain inventions be kept secret.”

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