[time-nuts] Help - Hope?

Rob Seaman seaman at NOAO.EDU
Tue Jan 3 17:26:29 UTC 2006


Hi Dan,

Thought others might be interested, too.

>> I'm reading the history of the first Atlantic telegraph cable.   
>> Great story full of details like Kelvin's invention of the  
>> precision galvanometer
>
> Which book is this?  Sounds quite interesting.

"A Thread Across the Ocean" by John Steele Gordon.  You might also  
take a look at Neal Stephenson's excellent article in the December  
1996 Wired (http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ 
ffglass_pr.html).  Wired did have a few - very few - good stories  
over the years - for instance, liked the article comparing container  
shipping to a packet switching network (might have been October  
1999).  And there was an excellent little exhibit on submarine cables  
at the Smithsonian a half dozen years ago.

A marvelous use of technology.  A grand vision at the time - and it  
still remains.  The latency and limited capacity of communications  
satellites likely ensures that.

Rob Seaman
National Optical Astronomy Observatory




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