Word: silicones
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...believes the U.S.S.R. is nearly equal to the U.S. in the design and construction of computers. But it lags so badly in performance because of the Soviet failure so far to master "chip" technology-the ability to place large numbers of miniature circuits on tiny (usually ½ sq. in.) silicon chips or plates. While U.S. engineers can cram 10,000 to 50,000 components on one of these chips, the Russians have been able to place no more than...
Reddish Hue. Viking's mechanical arm also delivered soil, scooped from the same trench, to an inorganic chemical analyzer, which will determine the elements in the material. The inorganic chemistry lab's first findings showed that the soil sample contains calcium, silicon, titanium, aluminum, iron and the iron oxide responsible for the reddish hue of Mars. But Viking's arm may have failed to make delivery to still another miniature laboratory, an organic chemistry analyzer designed to look for evidence of past Martian life. After two attempts, telemetry showed that soil had apparently not reached the interior...
Computers are also moving into other areas, thanks to the invention by Marcian E. Hoff Jr., of Intel Corp., of the micro computer, containing tiny (1/6 sq. in.) chips of silicon, now used in cars to control antiskid systems or monitor engine temperatures and in refineries and sewage-treatment plants to control the decomposition of waste and the levels of bacteria. Some engineers are also working on the development of home computer terminals that could give individuals access to whole libraries of information, as well as start a sort of "electronic democracy" in which public opinion on any issue could...
...signal into a neighboring line. Measuring as little as one-thousandth of an inch in diameter, the fibers are also far less bulky than wires -an important consideration in cities, where underground cable conduits are already overcrowded. Eventually, the fibers may also prove cheaper. Supplies of copper are limited; silicon, the chief ingredient of glass fiber, is one of the most plentiful materials on earth...
...president, Raymond J. Noorda, proved unable to market successfully computers that contained a highly sophisticated "silicon on sapphire" (SOS) semiconductor chip. The chip, designed by G.A., dramatically reduced the size of the machines, but Rockwell International, which produced five prototype computers for G. A., could not make them standard for regular production. Sales slumped, and by the end of calendar 1974 the company was running at a loss. Noorda persuaded Goshorn to resume active direction of G.A. at year's end, when Goshorn's wife finally left him. This time Goshorn brought back his old partner, Burt Yale...