Blog Archives: July, 2003
Breakfast with Ivan Sutherland
Last Thursday I joined a number of Sun Labs interns for breakfast with Ivan Sutherland, a vice-president and fellow at Sun Labs. Ivan is widely regarded as the founder of computer graphics. Since joining Sun, he has led a team working on asynchronous circuits (roughly, computer circuits without a clock).
Ivan Sutherland at the console of the TX-2 - Sketchpad Project, MIT, 1963 Ivan started off showing us a video of his PhD project, a computer program called Sketchpad. SketchPad allowed the user to draw shapes on the screen using a light pen, to manipulate the shapes, zoom in and out, copy and resize shapes, and so on. Most notably, this was the first computer graphics program. Ever. It was written in 1963, a time when almost all computers ran batches of jobs, usually submitted as time cards. In the video he shows shapes being enlarged and having parts of them going off the screen, showing only a portion of the image. Ivan said, “That’s called clipping. Do you know why it’s called clipping? Because I decided to call it that.”
After having talked for many years about the research and the role of the researcher, Ivan wrote a paper called Technology and Courage, in which he talks about the courage that is needed to face a research problem and see it through. An interesting read for those leaning to academics and research.
In a recent blog entry, I mentioned a visit to the Computer History Museum, which happened the day after breakfast with Ivan. Ivan’s son Dean accompanied us to the museum, and provided some interesting perspective along the way, especially when he showed us the first virtual reality goggles, designed by his father more than a few years ago.
2,443 miles
Wow, it’s only 2,442.97 miles to drive from Santa Clara to Windsor. Road trip!
Computer History Museum
Friday afternoon I visited the newly-opened Computer History Museum. Although not yet finished, major pieces from the permanent collection were on display.
One of the machines displayed was an Enigma machine, the most famous cryptographic tool from World War II.
Colossus Also on display was the only remaining part (a cylinder, visible in the picture at right) from one of the Colossus machines designed to help break the Lorenz code (University of Waterloo professor emeritus Bill Tutte cracked the Lorenz code). The world’s first programmable electronic computer, it was destroyed after the war, and its existence classified until just recently.
Cray 2 Among the more modern machines were the Cray-1 and Cray-2 (the Cray-2 is shown at left). As you can see, the earlier designs were circular. This allowed the wires connecting the various modules to go around the centre, thus shortening the length of the wires and allowing faster operation.
The neatest machine may have been the Hollerith Census Machine, which was used to tabulate the 1890 US Census. Hollerith merged with C-T-R (Computing-Tabulating-Recording) Company and in 1924 changed its name to International Business Machines.
There was also a SUN-1 workstation, the first virtual reality goggles (designed by a graphics researcher named Ivan Sutherland), a Pixar Image Computer, and a both an Apple I and an Apple Cube. A great trip through history. See also Meredith’s blog entry about our trip.
Now Playing
In a fairly random choice from my iTunes library, I’m now listening to Claude Debussy’s La mer. What are you listening to?
Carmina Burana
I just returned from a spectacular performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana by the San Francisco Symphony. Carmina Burana is a Latin oratorio (vocalists, chorus, and orchestra; like an opera but no acting, costumes, or sets), first performed in 1937.
The most well-known (and, in my opinion, best) song from the work is “O Fortuna”, which has been used in many movie soundtracks. It starts off the performance, and hearing it is like being hit with a wall of sound – the sheer power is astounding. You can hear a recording of it at Amazon.com. A particularly amusing track is “In taberna quando sumus”, which is effectively a Latin drinking song.
Worth a listen, even for those who don’t usually appreciate classical music.
Have a good Heather day!
How much do I miss Heather Murray? Well, she is the only one who writes me poems:
…when what to my wond’ring eyes did appear
but a spectacled face with a smile so sincere
And hair just the colour of Jose Cuervo tequila
I knew in a moment it was DOUGLAS STEBILA!
Slovaks in Oregon
At Crater Lake While I was on my previously mentioned trip to the northwest states of Oregon and Washington, I stopped in Oregon at Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is simply the bluest lake I have ever seen. In the picture at left, you might think that a filter has been applied, or perhaps the colours on my digital camera aren’t quite right, but it really is that blue.
With Lubos Sestak and Anna Also while I was at Crater Lake, I ended up meeting up with my second cousin from Slovakia, Lubos Sestak, and his girlfriend Anna, who are working in the park for the summer. As fate had it, they both had a rare day off that Sunday and we were able to travel in the area and hike to some waterfalls. It’s quite a rare coincidence, when you think about it: me, a Canadian, meeting my Slovak relative while we’re both working in the western United States for just a few months. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
By the way, my pictures from my trip to Oregon and Washington are now online.
Klein Blue
Klein blue The very-blue picture at left is a painting by Yves Klein, who invented and patented a colour of blue callled International Klein Blue.
Although this work is from the Guggenheim museum, there is a similar painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 
Stebila green When I saw the piece live, I was astonished at just how blue, how stunningly blue, it really is. Some may not think that a monochromatic canvas should be considered art, but I found it to be inspired. As a result, I present to you the following exclusive world premier work, which I have entitled International Stebila Yellow (I’m still working on the title):
