This is a bit late, article (and wikipedia) says he died on February 26. [1]
Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
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Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#12It's incredibly humbling to be reminded how young this field of our is: this site and everything its presence implies (about the Internet, global communication, computers) would not exist were it not for the work of a very-recently-deceased engineer. Very few other fields (aerospace and modern pharmacology, among them) can say the same thing.
It is interesting to think about about alternative history here: If microchip technology had never been invented for some reason, what would we have developed instead? What is the next best computing technology?
I think we would have ended up here anyways: to assume that the silicon transistor would not have been invented without Morris Tanenbaum is to succumb to the Great Man theory[1].
The reality is that Morris was a brilliant man whose life intersected in the right place and time with the arc of history; we should celebrate his life and contributions for that, and not because we think that we'd be stuck in 1950 without them.
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#13Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#14It's incredibly humbling to be reminded how young this field of our is: this site and everything its presence implies (about the Internet, global communication, computers) would not exist were it not for the work of a very-recently-deceased engineer. Very few other fields (aerospace and modern pharmacology, among them) can say the same thing.
It is interesting to think about about alternative history here: If microchip technology had never been invented for some reason, what would we have developed instead? What is the next best computing technology?
Vacuum tubes was the thing, I'd imagine there would be more of that.
That, or mentats.
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is interesting to think about about alternative history here: If microchip technology had never been invented for some reason, what would we have developed instead? What is the next best computing technology?
I think we would have ended up here anyways: to assume that the silicon transistor would not have been invented without Morris Tanenbaum is to succumb to the Great Man theory[1]. The reality is that Morris was a brilliant man whose life intersected in the right place and time with the arc of history; we should celebrate his life and contributions for that, and not because we think that we'd be stuck in 1950 without t…
[deleted]
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#16It's incredibly humbling to be reminded how young this field of our is: this site and everything its presence implies (about the Internet, global communication, computers) would not exist were it not for the work of a very-recently-deceased engineer. Very few other fields (aerospace and modern pharmacology, among them) can say the same thing.
It is interesting to think about about alternative history here: If microchip technology had never been invented for some reason, what would we have developed instead? What is the next best computing technology?
This is something the Russians worked on,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator
I've been told analogue computers got pretty far too,
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#17Morris Tanenbaum (American, physical chemist / transistor researcher) [1], not to be confused with Andrew Tanenbaum (American-Dutch, CS professor who was responsible for MINIX) [2]. Both had great significance in what we call "computers" today, in their respective fields. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Tanenbaum [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_S._Tanenbaum
Andrew Tanenbaum is in a no way Dutch. States as much in his Wikipedia article. There are plenty of Dutch scientists, including in CS, so no need to gekoloniseren another one.
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#18Morris Tanenbaum (American, physical chemist / transistor researcher) [1], not to be confused with Andrew Tanenbaum (American-Dutch, CS professor who was responsible for MINIX) [2]. Both had great significance in what we call "computers" today, in their respective fields. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Tanenbaum [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_S._Tanenbaum
Andrew Tanenbaum is in a no way Dutch. States as much in his Wikipedia article. There are plenty of Dutch scientists, including in CS, so no need to gekoloniseren another one.
He's lived and worked in The Netherlands since over 35 years, possibly 40.
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Andrew Tanenbaum is in a no way Dutch. States as much in his Wikipedia article. There are plenty of Dutch scientists, including in CS, so no need to gekoloniseren another one.
He's lived and worked in The Netherlands since over 35 years, possibly 40.
Does that make him Dutch?
Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died
#20It's incredibly humbling to think that his #2 and #3 life achievements were building practical high field superconducting magnets (making MRI machines possible a decade later) and being CEO of AT&T.