"We have no use for these inventions" was the rebuff given to Christian Hülsmeyer by Telefunken in 1905 when he offered them his early versions of radar and the chart plotter. Decca would make the same mistake with the Beatles.
In this sequel to "Sailing into the Electrical Age" (2017) we’ll follow the adventures and misadventures of the inventors, scientists and engineers who brought us not only radio and radar but all the other gadgets we never knew we wanted on our vessels and in our homes.
We’ll start with a long-delayed visit to Cragside, William Armstrong’s home in Northumberland, to admire his (British!) light bulbs from Joseph Swan, powered hydroelectrically in 1881 from a convenient lake via a generator from Werner Siemens. We’ll look at the radio valve, the cathode ray tube (once in your TV and radar) and the cavity magnetron (still in your microwave and probably your radar) and move on down to the transistor, the integrated circuit, the microprocessor and the memory chip, now allowing you to drop the entire Admiralty chart collection into your plotter or into the bilges - provided you can still get the chips.
Also: a return visit to London’s Lea Valley where the British electronics industry was nurtured; a wartime miniature radar device whose level of secrecy approached that surrounding the Flag Officers’ Lunch; and “the machines that made nothing” but made everything possible.
Date: Wednesday 1 February 2023
Time: 19:00
Place: CA House or, for the webinar broadcast via Zoom, your own home or boat
Booking (to attend at CA House): To book places on any lecture, and to indicate whether you’ll be ordering food, click on [Book venue]. Please pay in advance on the website, or by contactless on the door. Any problems with the booking system, call or email Jeremy on 020 7537 2828/reception@theca.org.uk
Tickets (to attend at CA House): Members £4, non-members £7.
Booking (to join the webinar via Zoom): The webinar broadcast is open to members, including Crewing Service members, only. You will need to login to see the details below.
If you would like to join the webinar broadcast, please register via Zoom here. There will be no charge for viewing online.