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The History of ASTIN. Invited Lecture at the 50 Years Anniversary of ASTIN
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2015
Abstract
“War is the father of all things”. This sentence of Heraklit (between 540 and 535 BC) has a lot of truth in general. I am quoting it in connection with World War II (1939-1945) and inventions originating in this period.
The best known examples of inventions (or first practical use of such invention) are
• Nuclear Fission leading to the construction of the atomic bomb and nuclear reactors,
• The Programmable Electronic Computer. Best known is the machine of John von Neumann as Los Alamos: Mathematical Analyser Numerical Integrator and Computer (MANIAC),
• Radar to guide the airplanes particularly at night and in bad weather conditions,
• Penicillin to fight bacteriological diseases.
Some of these inventions relied on original discoveries already made before the war, but during the war they were for the first time used on a large scale.
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- Invited Historical Article
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- Copyright © ASTIN Bulletin 2007
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