What are Automata?
Automata are self-operating machines. From the Renaissance to the present day, the term automaton has been used for independent mechanical processes that are triggered at the push of a button.
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Pat
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Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage was a mathematician, a philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer at the beginning of 19th century. He originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
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Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was an English mathematician, commentator on Babbage’s Analytical Engine and writer. The Lady, today known as Ada Lovelace, lived In London 1815-1852. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron.
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How did the Difference Engine work?
The Difference Engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. It was designed in the 1820s by Charles Babbage.
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How did the Analytical Engine work?
The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer. The Engine was a steam-driven mechanical computer with approx. 28,000 parts, 30 x 10 m in size. Its memory was approximately 20.7 KB.
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What is the potential of Babbage watches?
Inspired by digitalization, mechanical microprocessors have the potential to map completely new functions in watches.
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The way into the deep – Part 1
Diving, general meaning and difficulties
The collision of the «Andrea Doria» with a Swedish ship off New York harbor is still generally remembered as the biggest shipping disaster after the Second World War. Even today, four years after the sinking, the wreck of what was then the most beautiful ship of the Italian merchant navy lies at the bottom of the sea. Although the «Andrea Doria» still represents a value of several million Swiss francs, it has not yet been salvaged. After the First World War, the English were already able to lift the valuable ships of the German Imperial Navy, which had sunk itself in Scapa Flow, and thus to supply English industry for years with the best and cheapest steel scrap.
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The way into the deep – Part 2
Report on the diving experiment in Toulon on the 4th of November, 1960
The effects of the increasing overpressure on the organism with increasing water depth can all be studied in overpressure chambers, which offers great advantages because of the direct observation possibilities and the elimination of all difficulties connected with the water itself, such as thermal insulation, visibility, etc. Thus, hyperbaric chambers were built and used already in the last century.
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The way into the deep – Part 3
Respiratory Physiological Aspects of Diving
The medical-physiological difficulties of diving, especially deep diving, are closely related to respiration. The first to be mentioned is hyperoxia. Atmospheric air contains about 21% oxygen, giving an oxygen pressure in inspiratory air of about 140 Torr (mm Hg) at normal altitudes. In alveolar air the oxygen pressure is still 95, and in arterial blood about 90 Torr. This pressure is sufficient to saturate 95-97% of the hemoglobin of the red blood cells with oxygen. Therefore, in normal lungs, higher oxygen pressures do not allow much higher oxygen saturation of the hemoglobin.
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The way into the deep – Part 4
Decompression, the safe resurfacing
The problem of greatest practical importance remains for diving, especially deep diving, decompression, the safe resurfacing. Most diving accidents and the so-called caisson disease are due to insufficient decompression. The problem is as old as diving and has always concerned divers' physiologists and medical advisors. What is it all about?
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