SolderSmoke Quiz Question: Who is the actor in this Bell Labs video?

He appears at 8 minutes, 17 seconds.  And he is somehow in the YouTube title frame.  I think I know who it is.  Any ideas?  (DON'T LOOK AT THE COMMENTS!) 

 

"Matter Waves" -- A 1961 Bell Labs Film

I continue to mine the AT&T video archive.  Here's a really wonderful 1961 film showing how particles really are waves also.   The simplicity of the gear that the Bell Labs folks used to demonstrate this is really admirable.  I would love to see the preceding film (the one that shows how light waves are really also particles). 

Arthur C. Clarke Talks about Satellites, SETI, Remote Work, and Wrist Radios (1976 Video)

He was, of course, right about the impact of satellites, but he was the inventor of the geo-stationary concept.  I wonder how he would react to the low-earth orbit Starlink system we are now using. 

He coments about how contact with extraterrestrial civilizations could come at any time, but notes that false alarms are common -- this made me think of recent explanations of the famous "Wow!" signal. 

His "Communicate don't Commute" idea seems to foreshadow the "remote work" via  Zoom that kicked in during the pandemic.  

And he talks about Dick Tracy-like wrist radios.  I sort of have one now (thanks to Elisa), in the form of my Apple Watch.  But it may be that putting a camera in there would be a bit too much... 

"The Far Sound" -- Bell System Video from 1961 -- Good Radio History (video)

This is a really OLD video, but there is a lot of great material here: 

-- Tubes.  (Valves or Thermatrons)

-- Coax.  

-- Frequency Division Multiplexing. 

-- Negative Feedback and the fight against distortion. 

-- Transistors and early experiments with semiconductors.

-- Fiber optics and Masers.

-- Satellite communications.

-- Early hopes for video communications.

The video is, by today's standards, extremely misogynist.  And the sound experiment with the poor woman wearing a male head was just weird.   But still, an interesting film. 

Thanks to Mark KM4GML for reminding us of this wonderful Bell Labs (AT&T) video archive. 

https://www.youtube.com/@ATTTechChannel 

 

Harry Caul had THE KNACK -- Movie Review -- "The Conversation" --1974 by Francis Ford Coppola (Harry Caul based on W3VCG)

 

I give it FIVE Soldering Irons! 

I found it on Amazon Prime.  The workshop scenes remind me of ham workshops.  The movie character Harry Caul was based on real-life Marty Kaiser.  Was Marty a ham? 

POSTSCRIPT (August 23, 2024):  Yes, he is a ham!   W3VCG!   FB.  Here is his web site: 

http://www.martykaiser.com/fbi1~1.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversation

http://www.martykaiser.com/odyssey2.htm

Thanks to Roy WN3F for reminding me to watch this film.  Roy found a clip that is reminiscent of hamfests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joM5VDCIQg8