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Old 25th Nov 2020, 6:32 pm   #84
dave walsh
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
Default Re: Would we have got to the moon with no semiconductors?

I'm reminded of the film The Year We Make Contact [1984] the sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey and set nine years later! The Soviets and the Americans have to join up their capsules-something that happened later in real life. When the Americans leave their shiny computerised domain they find that the Russian cabin is a cross between an Edwardian Gents Toilet and an old fashioned submarine ie all beautiful brass and copper piping plus "valves" that aren't at all electronic-back to future eh

I've always believed that story re the Americans laughing about radio valves in a downed Mig Fighter until someone says "Nuclear EMF Pulse". In the savage Nuclear Winter film THREADS [coincidentally also released in the highly significant year of 1984 and about an attack on Britain] the first thing to fail, in the Control Centre under Sheffield Town Hall, is the solid State Radio Equipment!

Dave W

Last edited by dave walsh; 25th Nov 2020 at 6:40 pm.
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