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Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

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131–140 of 296 posts

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#131
And meanwhile today you can get more power than the Cray-1 (or Cray-2) from a single chip a fraction of the size of that coin.

Very quickly:

  a dollar coin is about 550 mm^2 on a face
  the Cray-1 could do 160 MFLOPS
  an M1 chip has a die size of 120 mm^2
  an M1 chip can do over 1 TFLOPS

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#132
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're meant for regular circulation, the program is being led by a buffoon. $1 coins have failed to circulate every time they've been introduced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony_dollar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea_dollar Dollars are worth a lot less now than they were. If vending machines start charging integer numbers of dollars, maybe dollar coins will catch on.

You remind me of the time (probably around 2002) I used a 20 to pay for some transit card/ticket somewhere and ended up with something like 15 dollar coins in change. I want to say it was a metro card in NYC. Concurrent dismay and delight.

USPS stamp vending machines around that time period were a great source of dollar coins. Didn’t commonly see them otherwise. Never had an issue spending them afterwards. Unlike the time I was in line at a fast food restaurant when the employee at the register was yelling at a customer about fake money. Turned out the “forgery” was a $2 bill.

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#133

> Mobile Refrigeration — Minnesota The logistical chain for keeping products products is really interesting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_chain Besides food, another area where it is critical is pharmaceuticals.

During the pandemic there was controversy about who received Moderna/Phizer vs who received J&J's vaccine. They were giving black neighborhoods J&J because it didn't have as strict refrigeration requirements, and a lot of black neighborhoods don't have a nearby pharmacy which can store the vaccines. J&J was thought to be less effective and had a higher rate of vaccine injury though.

When I think of COVID and refrigeration trucks I think of them being used as makeshift morgues before the bodies were moved to mass graves.

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not Wozniak (probably still alive), or Shannon (I'd vote for him), Convey, Knut, Reed, Solomon, Thompson, Ritchie, Kernighan, etc? Why it is a CEO? Why Jobs and Edison? It is just how it is...

Why not the inventors of the transistor? Anyway, at least I'm happy the Nobel prize committee isn't based in the US. Otherwise we'd soon see the Nobel prize for advertising.

Or venture capital.

I'm thinking Elizabeth Holmes should either be on a coin or get some kind of Nobel.

(he said in jest)

But seriously, Lee de Forest (Iowa or New York), Chester Carlson (Washington, New York), Charles Martin Hall (Ohio), Philo Farnsworth (Utah)…

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#135
post #128

> Mobile Refrigeration — Minnesota The logistical chain for keeping products products is really interesting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_chain Besides food, another area where it is critical is pharmaceuticals.

They said these innovations are what the state is known for, but I've been a Minnesota resident my entire life and didn't know refrigerated trucking was invented here.

Unlike California, MN is not good at promoting all the things they do and so people never think of them despite all the cool/useful inventions that come from there. (I now live in Iowa which is even worse about promoting).

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#136

> Mobile Refrigeration — Minnesota The logistical chain for keeping products products is really interesting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_chain Besides food, another area where it is critical is pharmaceuticals.

During the pandemic there was controversy about who received Moderna/Phizer vs who received J&J's vaccine. They were giving black neighborhoods J&J because it didn't have as strict refrigeration requirements, and a lot of black neighborhoods don't have a nearby pharmacy which can store the vaccines. J&J was thought to be less effective and had a higher rate of vaccine injury though.

J&J was very effective. They came later and turned out to be less effective than Moderna/Phizer - but their vaccine was still very good when viewed in isolation - they just were unfortunate to have an amazingly great competitor to compare against.

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#138
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The title was editorialized and not accurate. These are two separate coins celebrating innovations in their respectable states.

Sure. But why does one coin have a person and the other have an invention? Why not inventions for both or people for both?

Jobs did a lot of useful things, but he was not an inventor and so has nothing to show. He was really good at forcing people to perfect the inventions of others which is a useful thing. Cray-1 is an invention, and better known than the inventor. So it is the right decision for both.

You can of course debate which is better and there are hundreds of other choices that could be put on either coin - both humans and inventions. I would probably pick different things (not people) for both - but this is a reflection of my biases and not some universal truth.

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#139
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The title was editorialized and not accurate. These are two separate coins celebrating innovations in their respectable states.

Sure. But why does one coin have a person and the other have an invention? Why not inventions for both or people for both?

Probably decided by committee and a subcommittee for each state. So you end up with inconsistent decisions between states.

Re: Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin

#140
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not Wozniak (probably still alive), or Shannon (I'd vote for him), Convey, Knut, Reed, Solomon, Thompson, Ritchie, Kernighan, etc? Why it is a CEO? Why Jobs and Edison? It is just how it is...

Each state voted on its innovation.

Had to consult an LLM about Kansas. I'm going to go with Clyde Vernon Cessna, George Washington Carver or Walter Chrysler.
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