# What are some surprising facts about technology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273 "2015-06-23T19:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/1 "2015-06-23T19:59:18Z")
Hi everyone. I’m looking for a few surprising, weird, or unbelievable (but citable) facts about technology. A couple of examples I’ve found: 1. According to a 2012 survey by Morgan Stanley, 91% of smartphone users have their phones within arms reach 24/7. 2. The first computer mouse was made out of wood. That sort of thing. You’d think the Internet would be full of this stuff, but my Google-fu keeps resulting in a load of unverifiable “facts” or woo. Any ideas welcome! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/2 "2015-06-23T20:26:46Z")
The fax machine was invented in 1846. The first commercial version was sold in 1861 (the year the U.S. Civil War started). This invention significantly predates the telephone (1876). > **[Fax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax)** > > Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then transmitting it through the telephone system in... ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/3 "2015-06-23T21:31:57Z")
Thanks **Shagnasty** , that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m after. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/4 "2015-06-24T00:32:02Z")
30s & 40s actress Hedy Lamarr was co-inventor of a technology used to jam radio-controlled torpedoes during WWII. Her invention was not put to use until 1962 until the invasion of Cuba, but since then it has been used as the basis for many wireless technologies used today such ad Bluetooth and CDMA. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/5 "2015-06-24T01:48:20Z")
[This page](http://estc.ucr.edu/ESTCStatistics.html#overview) has four charts that show the number of different book titles published, in England, from the invention of the printing press to 1800 CE. The charts are in order by date and it’s interesting to see that the number of different books printed rose from 1 title printed in 1473 to 10,243 separate titles published in 1800 (with each title averaging 1,000 copies). It’s no wonder that European civilization had a scientific revolution, an Enlightenment, a commercial revolution, the beginnings of the Industrial revolution, etc etc etc in this time. I know it’s not “technology” as the OP likely intended, but this makes me wonder if the rise of the internet will portend for us similar great changes to those that occurred in Europe the last time an information revolution occurred. Titles per year: [http://estc.ucr.edu/stcdates.html](http://estc.ucr.edu/stcdates.html) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/6 "2015-06-24T01:50:54Z")
When the Saturn V rocket left the pad on its way to the moon, its fuel economy was fifteen gallons to the inch. SR-71 Blackbird pilots navigated with sextants. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/7 "2015-06-24T02:01:28Z")
Benjamin Franklin made several early discoveries about electricity in the mid-18th century. But he eventually stopped working in the field because he was seeking practicable applications for science and he didn’t see how electricity could ever be used for anything in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/8 "2015-06-24T02:12:47Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > 30s & 40s actress Hedy Lamarr was co-inventor of a technology used to jam radio-controlled torpedoes during WWII. Her invention was not put to use until 1962 until the invasion of Cuba, but since then it has been used as the basis for many wireless technologies used today such ad Bluetooth and CDMA. Thomas Dolby (as in She Blinded Me With Science) probably wrote the ring tone on your phone. If he didn’t, he’s probably involved in it in one way or another. > **[Thomas Dolby](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Thomas_Dolby#Headspace_and_Beatnik)** > > Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. > Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me with Science" (1982) and "Hyperactive!" (1984). He has also worked as a producer and as a session musician. > In the 1990s, Dolby founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company whose technology was used to play internet audio and later ringtones, most... Margaret Atwood invented the [Longpen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood#Inventor_of_the_LongPen). It gives people the ability to write something in one place and have it robotically done at another. She did it so she could do signings without being present but it’s now used in business so people can sign things without the document having to be mailed back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/9 "2015-06-24T02:28:12Z")
In 1842, female English mathematician [Ada Lovelace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace) was hired to translate a lecture by Charles Babbage about his “Analytical Engine” (which was theorized but never built). She ended up spending a year adding footnotes to the translated lecture, as the Analytical Engine was hard to describe and most scientists could not grasp it. Her footnotes ended up describing, basically, what is now known as a computer and software. One of her notes described a process for writing [Bernouli numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli_number) using the (theoretical) Analytic Engine. This is considered to be the first computer program (although it remains untested as the Engine remains unbuilt). Nobody really gave her paper much thought until it was republished in 1953, 110 years after it was first written. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/10 "2015-06-24T03:25:33Z")
Over 60% of requests made on the internet are initiated by bots, rather than human beings. The percentage is rapidly growing. Or in other words, most of what you post online is probably ‘read’ by software programs more often than by people. From the internet’s perspective, humans are becoming nearly irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/11 "2015-06-24T06:41:23Z")
The “Computer” punch card (IBM 5081, etc.) dates to the US Census of 1890 - one Mr. Holllerith devise it. See [Columbia University](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/census-tabulator.html) The computer mouse was a variant of the light pen available for mainframes, and invented in [1955](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/12 "2015-06-24T10:33:55Z")
The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid 3 years before the start of the U.S. Civil War. It functioned for 3 weeks. Vacuum tubes are still legitimately used. Almost every TV broadcast transmitter and most FM radio broadcast transmitters still use vacuum tubes for the high power output stages. Klystrons are used in particle accelerators. There’s even one in your home (cavity magnetron in your microwave oven). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/13 "2015-06-24T11:01:30Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > When the Saturn V rocket left the pad on its way to the moon, its fuel economy was fifteen gallons to the inch. To be fair, everytime your car leaves a stop sign (if you full stop), it has a point in time where it’s fuel economy is fifteen gallons to the inch (unless it’s electric then it’s MPIe) > [@](#): > > SR-71 Blackbird pilots navigated with sextants. The Blackbird leaks and is designed to leak fuel till it gets to operational temperatures , after which it midair refuels for it’s mission. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/14 "2015-06-24T11:54:54Z")
The Saturn V rocket was travelling at over 500mph when it cleared it’s gantry, just 106 meters into it’s journey. It sure doesn’t look like it’s going anything like that fast. > **[8Page2.pdf](https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/engineering/8Page2.pdf)** > > 63.77 KB ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/15 "2015-06-24T12:12:14Z")
> [@Moonshine](#): > > The Saturn V rocket was travelling at over 500mph when it cleared it’s gantry, just 106 meters into it’s journey. It sure doesn’t look like it’s going anything like that fast. > > [http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/engineering/8Page2.pdf](http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/engineering/8Page2.pdf) That didn’t sound right, so I checked your link. It says the Saturn V cleared the gantry 9 seconds after liftoff and at a speed of 51 mph. Eh, what’s an order of magnitude between friends. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/16 "2015-06-24T12:36:36Z")
The Saturn V could put 130 tonnes to LEO and 45 tonnes to lunar orbit. The best rockets today can put about 30 tonnes to LEO. In other words, the Saturn V could put 50 % more payload to Lunar Orbit than the top of the line systems can out in Low Earth Orbit today. Fuck that depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/17 "2015-06-24T13:08:07Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The Saturn V could put 130 tonnes to LEO and 45 tonnes to lunar orbit. > > The best rockets today can put about 30 tonnes to LEO. In other words, the Saturn V could put 50 % more payload to Lunar Orbit than the top of the line systems can out in Low Earth Orbit today. > > Fuck that depressing. Any reason why? My knee-jerk reaction is that its just a cost cutting measure, but why go backwards? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/18 "2015-06-24T13:15:43Z")
The smartphones that we use today have more computing power than the mainframes used to run the Apollo moon missions. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/19 "2015-06-24T13:35:26Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > The smartphones that we use today have more computing power than the mainframes used to run the Apollo moon missions. And the Apollo astronauts carried a [slide rule](http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19840160000) to make their calculations. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273/20 "2015-06-24T14:16:09Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Any reason why? My knee-jerk reaction is that its just a cost cutting measure, but why go backwards? Aircraft technology has also regressed. Ever since the Concorde was retired, there are no non-military planes capable of supersonic flight. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-surprising-facts-about-technology/723273.md?page=2)