Inventions that changed the world in the year of the Dragon

Many breakthrough inventions in different fields have appeared in the history of the Giap Thin years .

Giap Thin 1964: Launched the first desktop computer

P101, the first desktop computer in history, was launched at the New York World's Fair (USA) in the year of the Dragon (1964).

First desktop version.

The machine was designed by Pier Giorgio Perotto, an Italian electronics pioneer. The size of the machine is 275 x 465 x 610 (mm), weighs 35.5kg, consumes 0.35kW of electricity.

The machine's hardware consists of discrete devices, including transistors, diodes, resistors and capacitors mounted on phenolic plastic circuit card assemblies.

The machine had 240 bytes of information memory, very small compared to machines at that time but was a turning point at that time.

The machine can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root and absolute value operations, giving results accurate to 22 digits and up to 15 decimal digits.

Data is recorded on plastic cards and can be exported to 9cm printer paper.

Although it was the first product displayed at the fair, 40,000 units were sold soon after. 90% of the market share is in the US, each device costs 3,200 USD.

NASA purchased this type of computer to plan and calculate the orbits of space programs, including the Apollo 11 mission that brought humans to the Moon.

Giap Thin 1904: Vacuum machine, diesel submarine

John A. Fleming's first vacuum tubes.

In 1904, John A. Fleming of the University of London (UK) invented the vacuum diode tube. These vacuum diodes can conduct electricity in one direction, regulate alternating current, or detect signals.

The invention of the vacuum tube is often considered the beginning of electronics. The version invented by Fleming was quite primitive, containing a heated electron-emitting cathode and an anode. Electrons move in one direction through the device, from the cathode to the anode.

The device was later improved to become a major part of electronic circuits in the first half of the 20th century.

Fleming's diodes were used in radio receivers, playing an important role in the development of radio, television, radar. for decades until they gave way to solid-state electronic technology.

The French submarine Aigrette was launched in the year of the Dragon.

Also in 1904, the world's first diesel-powered submarine Aigrette was officially launched. This French-made ship has a surface displacement of 181 tons and a submerged displacement of 257 tons.

The length of the ship is 35.9m, width 4.04m and depth of draft is 2.63m. The vessel has a single axle driven by a 150 horsepower diesel engine and a 130 horsepower electric motor.

The maximum speed of the ship is 17.2km/h on water and 11.5km/h when submerged.

The ship is equipped with two Drzewiecki 450mm torpedo launchers and two 450mm torpedoes placed in external mounts.

Aigrette was ordered on May 13, 1902, launched in February 1904 and entered service in 1908.

During World War I, Aigrette served in defensive positions in Brest and in Cherbourg (France). Aigrette ceased operations in November 1919 and was sold for recycling in April 1920.

Giap Thin 1844: The first Morse code

Part of the first Morse code transmission system - (Photo: BRITANNICA).

Telegraph is characterized by the transmission of information over long distances using encrypted signals. This form is widely used for communication in the maritime and aviation industries.

The birth of telegraphy is closely related to the formation of Morse code. Morse code is named after inventor Samuel FB Morse, who used the method of encoding character text into dots and dashes for signal transmission.

On May 24, 1844, in front of government officials in Washington, DC, Samuel Morse presented the first telegram, sent to Morse's assistant Alfred Vail in Baltimore with the content "What hath God Wrought? " , a quote from the Bible.

From then on, Morse and Vail continuously improved telegraph technology. Some of the first telegraph lines were built between 1845 and 1848.

By the early 1900s, many people began using the popular Morse code characters "· · · – – – · · ·" to represent an emergency signal when at sea. This signal is equivalent to the SOS widely used today.

Giap Thin 1784: Gauß solves the classic problem

The photo depicts a classroom scene on the same day that Gauß discovered the famous way to calculate sums

German mathematician Johann Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777 - 1855) is world famous for calculating the sum 1+ 2+3+4+…+100.

In 1784, when Gauß was 7 years old, the teacher gave Gauß's class students the task of calculating the sum of numbers from 1 to 100. While they did the addition in order, Gauß gave the answer in just a few seconds.

He noticed that when "pairing" two numbers at the beginning and end of the sequence, such as 100+1, 99+2, 98+3. the total is the same, 101. There are 50 pairs of 100 numbers, so take 101 times 50, the result is 5,050.

Later, summation formulas were developed and named after him. One of the typical Gauß formulas taught at high school level in Vietnam is the sum of the number sequence 1+2+3+.+n = (nx (n+1))/2.

The statue recognizes the contributions of mathematician Gauß - (Photo: BRITANNICA).