Sputnik 1 .10/4/57..Changed the world,.. computer development rapidly advanced [View all]

[Stuart G]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

Sputnik 1 " was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable even by amateurs, and the 65° inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.[6][7]
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Hit the link to find out more about Sputnik 1........far more important than Sputnik 1 is this: In my opinion, the advent of Sputnik, resulted in advances in computers that resulted in your reading this now. Because the Russians got into space first, (shocking the entire world, because everyone thought we would be first) there evolved a "space race" to see who could get out there, to the moon first..and so on
...As a result of the "space race" advances in computer science were quite rapid. Partly because the space capsules needed to be totally monitored, light equipment was needed do the monitoring. (Light equipment because sending anything into space required lots of rocket power to send it into space) Consequently, the downsizing of early computers in the space capsules was extremely important. In the 50s, computers were room sized. By the early 70s, the size had shrunk considerably, and the amount of information in the computers had increased enormously. The United States had a goal to get to the moon first, and it did, but as a result of all the money put into that effort, computer science advanced far quicker than it would have advanced otherwise. Of course, at first this advance was used in the space program, but eventually the advances worked their way down into mainstream areas: such as calculators, TVs, cars and so on, and on, and on, and on.
........Few realize the importance of Sputnik in speeding up the evolving nature of the computer, but in my opinion it was/is very important in the development of computer chips that allowed the bulky heavy things to be gradually (or quickly if you prefer) downsized into what is a computer today. Some of us who saw those early things in late 50s and early 60s, could not imagine holding on to one in your hand..
.......It was in the future that this would happen. Two or three hundred years out, as portrayed in "Star Trek"..because I remember watching then. But now, holding a phone in your hands, and talking to someone, and even seeing them, is not some future thing, but a reality for millions of people. Sputnik 1 helped that to happen in ways no one could imagine.