Mixed feelings... On the one hand, fascinating to see the guts of these circuits revealed, on the other that's destruction on a level that makes me cringe. I know that she got the board with the specific instructions to destroy it so I guess she lived up to the promise but taking a chisel to these bugs me in a way that is hard to put to words. I guess there is no way back on that one.
I'm wondering why the chips themselves, once removed from their placement, couldn't just be x-rayed, rather than destroyed?
They were X-rayed too. X-ray imaging can only tell you so much. I think it is perfectly acceptable to destroy some to gain an understanding of what these things actually were. She did a marvelous job of documenting the teardown and should be commended for that, many more people will have an appreciation for this historical technology with this documentation.