{"id":2581,"date":"2017-05-05T10:37:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T10:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2017-11-10T09:18:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T09:18:25","slug":"back-to-the-temple-of-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=2581","title":{"rendered":"Back to the ‘Temple of Science’"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 17 years of having a yearning desire to visit the Mus\u00e9e des Arts et M\u00e9tiers<\/a> (Paris) once again, I have finally managed to arrange an opportunity for a second encounter. This time, with my family!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I were to summarize what Mus\u00e9e des Arts et M\u00e9tiers has always meant to me, it would simply be the fact that it is a Chapel for Arts and Crafts that houses marvels of the Enlightenment. Something more than an ordinary science museum; a temple of science<\/em>, actually. During my first visit in 1999, I have noticed that the Chapel has sculpted my heart and mind in an irreversible way leading to a more open-minded vision. It has certainly been an initiation ceremony for a tech guy like me!<\/p>\n

Founded in 1794 by Henri Gr\u00e9goire, the Conservatoire National des Arts et M\u00e9tiers, “a store of new and useful inventions”<\/em>, is a museum of technological innovation. An extraordinary place where science<\/strong> meets faith<\/strong>. Not a religious faith for sure;\u00a0a faith in contributing to the betterment of society through Science. Founded by anti-clerical French revolutionaries to celebrate the glory of science, it is no small irony that the museum is partially housed in the former Abbey Church of Saint Martin des Champs.<\/p>\n

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“… an omnibus beneath the gothic vault of a church!”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The museum is HUGE! Scattered across 3 floors, I assure you that at the end of the day dizziness awaits you, thanks to the mind-blowing 2.400 inventions exhibited. An aeroplane suspended in mid-flight above a monumental staircase, automatons springing to life in a dimly lit theatre, an omnibus beneath the gothic vault of a church, and a Sinclair ZX Spectrum… These are just a few of the sights and surprises that make The Mus\u00e9e des Arts et M\u00e9tiers one of Paris’ most unforgettable experiences.<\/p>\n

A picture is worth a thousand words.\u00a0So, let’s catch a glimpse of the museum through a bunch of photos that we took…<\/p>\n

“You enter and are stunned by a conspiracy in which the sublime universe of heavenly ogives and the chthonian world of gas guzzlers are juxtaposed.” – (Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum, 1988)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ader Avion III – Steampunk bat plane!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Ader<\/a><\/p>\n

On October 9, 1890 a strange flying machine, christened ‘Avion no.3’<\/em>, took off for a few dozen meters from a property at Armainvilliers. The success of this trial, witnessed by only a handful of people, won Cl\u00e9ment Ader<\/strong> -the machine’s inventor- a grant from the French Ministry of War to pursue his research. Further tests were carried out on the Avion no.3 on October 14, 1897 in windy overcast weather. The aircraft took off intermittently over a distance of 300 meters<\/strong>, then suddenly swerved and crashed. The ministry withdrew its funding and Ader was forced to abandon his aeronautical experiments, despite being the first to understand aviation’s military importance. He eventually donated his machine to the Conservatoire in 1903.<\/p>\n

Like his earlier ‘Ader \u00c9ole’<\/em>, Avion no.3 was the result of the engineer’s study of the flight and morphology of chiropteras (bats), and his meticulous choice of materials to lighten its structure (unmanned it weighs only 250 kg) and improve its bearing capacity. Its boiler supplied two 20-horsepower steam engines driving four-bladed propellers that resembled gigantic quill feathers. The pilot was provided with foot pedals to control both the rudder and the rear wheels… – A steam-powered bat plane that really flew!<\/p>\n

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Cray-2 Supercomputer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"CRAY-2<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cray-2, designed by American engineer Seymour Cray<\/a>, was the most powerful computer in the world when it mas first marketed in 1985. A year after the Russian ‘M-13’<\/em>, it was the second computer to break the gigaflop<\/strong> (a billion operations per second) barrier.<\/p>\n

It used the vector processing principle, via which a single instruction prompts a cascade of calculations carried out simultaneously by several processors. Its very compact C-shaped<\/strong> architecture minimized distances between components and increased calculation speed. To dissipate the heat produced by its hundreds of thousands of microchips, the ensemble was bathed in a heat conducting and insulating liquid cooled by water.<\/p>\n

The Cray-2 was ideal for major scientific calculation centres, particularly in meteorology and fluid dynamics.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0was also notable for being the first supercomputer to run \u201cmainstream\u201d software, thanks to UniCOS, a Unix System V derivative with some BSD features. The one exhibited at the museum was used by the \u00c9cole Polytechnique<\/strong> in Paris from 1985 to 1993.<\/p>\n

(For more information, you can check the original Cray-2 brochure<\/a> in PDF format.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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IBM\u00a07101 CPU Maintenance Console<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IBM\u00a07101<\/a><\/p>\n

In\u00a01961, IBM\u00a07101 Central Processing Unit Maintenance Console enabled detection\u00a0of CPU malfunctions. It provided visual indications for monitoring control lines and following data flow. Switches and keys on the console allowed the operator to simulate automatic operation manually. These operations\u00a0were simulated at machine speeds or, in most cases, at a single step rate. – In plain English: A hardware debugger!<\/p>\n

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A salute to the 8-bit warriors!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

My first love:\u00a0a Sinclair ZX81<\/strong> home computer (second row, far right)\u00a0with a hefty 1024 bytes of\u00a0memory and membrane buttons, beside\u00a0the original<\/em> Sinclair ZX Spectrum<\/strong> with\u00a0rubber keyboard, diminutive size and distinctive rainbow motif… I feel like I belong to that showcase! Reserve some space for me boys, will you? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The most interesting items in the retro computer section are the Thomson TO7\/70<\/strong> (third row, far left) and Thomson MO5<\/strong> (third row, in the middle) microcomputers. Both models were chosen to equip schools as part of the ‘computers for all’<\/em> plan implemented by the French government in 1985 to encourage the use of computers in education and support the French computer industry, just like what the\u00a0British government had done with BBC microcomputers. The Thomson TO7\/70 was the flagship model. It had the ‘TO’ (t\u00e9l\u00e9-ordinateur) prefix because it could be connected to a television set via SCART plug, so that a dedicated computer monitor was not necessary. It also had a light pen<\/strong> that allowed interaction with software directly on the screen, as well as a built-in cassette player for reading\/recording programmes written in BASIC.<\/p>\n

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Camera Obscura<\/strong><\/p>\n