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Post by gwenhwyfaer on May 16, 2007 12:51:41 GMT
As has been mentioned here before, Bret Victor's the guy who designed the Fusion sound engine, the Ion sound engine and OS, and the Micron (full stop). He's also a really bright guy. REALLY bright. Never mind children - this game he designed should be a required part of a first year university course in computer science. But I can't imagine too many people being able to impress Phil Wadler on his own field of expertise. It looks as though he's either left Alesis to go back to university, or has taken a leave of absence from them. Either way, it's a shame, but hardly surprising - anyone in the CS field should probably expect to hear a LOT more about this guy in the future. Probably something to do with this. |
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Post by mps on May 24, 2007 13:31:33 GMT
It would be a much better world if engineers could be as famous as this years latest hosebag starlet/celebrity party tramp. No. More famous. And that goes double for athletes. We make people famous for the stupidest things!
Really smart people who design things that change the world and make our lives better seldom reap the rewards or become household names. Ayn Rand once said that the man who first learned how to make a fire was probably burned at the stake by his tribe, using his new discovery.
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Post by gwenhwyfaer on May 24, 2007 14:10:05 GMT
Ah yes. If only names like da Vinci, Newton, Bell, Edison and Tesla were not lost to the howling voids of time... oh, hang on...
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Post by mps on May 24, 2007 17:45:14 GMT
Point taken. Yet at the same time that makes my point. For most people in the US at least I bet there is no engineer (alive today) as famous and well known as Paris Hilton. Most Americans have never heard of Tesla either, even though he basically invented the world of electricity that we use in our everyday lives. Unless they think that he invented a teleportation device for some early 20th century magician.  |
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Post by Hollow Sun on May 24, 2007 18:30:31 GMT
The thing is, most engineers I know don't court publicity - many actively avoid it.
One guy I have had the pleasure and honour of working with - David Cockerell - has touched more hi-tech musos' lives than most having designed the hardware for (wait for it ... deep breath).....
EMS ....
* VCS3
* Synthi A
* Synthi AKS
* Digitial sequencer (first ever multi-channel digital sequencer)
* Synthi 100
* Vocoder
* Synthi Hi-Fli (first ever multiFX unit)
Electro-Harmonix ....
* Small/Big Stone phasers
* Electric Mistress flanger
* Memory Man delay (and derivatives)
Others as well perhaps
Akai ....
* S612
* S900/950
* S700/X7000
* MPC60
* S1000 (and derivatives)
* S1100
* S2000
* S3000 (and derivatives)
* MPC3000
* S3000XL
* S5000/6000
* Phrase trainer
* Intelliphase FX pedal
* DD1000
* DD1500
* DPS24
He was designing software envelopes and music sequencing languages on mainframes in the late 60s and also worked at Ircam, Paris, France.
But you couldn't wish to meet a more modest gentleman.
I remember being at his place once and some guy turned up to fix his washing machine. I was surprised and asked him why he didn't fix it himself (we were, after all, looking at and discussing a breadboard for a new VLSI for Akai that had something like a gazillion switches in it) to which he replied "Fix it? I don't even know how to operate the bloody thing!"
A great bloke (and if he knew I'd posted this, he'd be embarrassed!).
Steve
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Post by markone on May 24, 2007 19:22:49 GMT
Point taken. Yet at the same time that makes my point. For most people in the US at least I bet there is no engineer (alive today) as famous and well known as Paris Hilton. Er... Possibly Bill Gates? And Gwen - How could you miss Isambard off your list? |
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Post by gwenhwyfaer on May 24, 2007 20:32:31 GMT
And Gwen - How could you miss Isambard off your list? Annoyingly easily, as it turns out... sorry.  |
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dana
Full Member
Posts: 45
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Post by dana on May 26, 2007 8:10:33 GMT
Most Americans have never heard of Tesla either, even though he basically invented the world of electricity that we use in our everyday lives. Unless they think that he invented a teleportation device for some early 20th century magician. Sure we do... Didn't he have a band? -Kidding! -Think HAARP! (google it, some believe Bernard J. Eastlund's work was related/inspired by Tesla) Dana  |
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