Clifford Stoll : Amazing mad scientist

[sstein]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk&fea...

Brilliant and infectious. Would teachers in school like him get kids interested in science ? He reminds me of Doc from back to the future.

I liked his experiment to find the speed of sound

-

Stuart

[robinhood21]

Unfortunately, I think they broke the mould when Clifford was born as, every school should have a Clifford Stoll.

Or is genetic engineering a step too far.

[AlexKP]

OFSTED would grade him as inadequate...

[crmcatee]

Is that the same guy that wrote the Cuckoo's egg. Cracking book I've read several times.. tracking a hacker in the times of modems, pagers and TTY printers.. Excellent read for those that have a techie background. Oh and see how he stumbled over the simple question during his university doctorate on "Why is the sky blue"


Background - astronomy sounds the same..

[Schmeeky]

Superb - a brain working so damn quick he can hardly get the ideas out of his mouth...

I love the fact that he obviously thought 'I need to see a Klein Bottle', and then worked out how to make one.

Those TED talks throw up some uber fascinating stuff, good find OP!

[thinfourth2]

He reminds me of someone i know who is a complete loony who when he sayes he builds his own computers he doesn't mean he plugs bits into a motherboard, he actually designs his own circuit boards and software

[bitwrx]

Just found this on what I assume is his website

"To clean your Klein Bottle

I suggest swishing around a small amount of Windex or alcohol. Use Vodka for a Klein Stein. For tough marks on the "inside" (which, of course, is the same as the "outside"), use a pair of small flat rare-earth magnets, each wrapped with soft velcro or cotton, and wet with Windex.

Keeping one magnet on the "outside" (which, of course is the same as the "inside") and one on the "inside" (which, of course is the same as the "outside"), you can scrub both sides of the glass at once. Since both sides are really the same side, so you're really scrubbing two sections of the same side -- a nice labor-saving method that also works on Moebius Loop Conveyor Belts."

Made me laugh.

http://www.kleinbottle.com/

[FourWheelDrift]

When he read out the wavelength on the oscilloscope I was expecting him to say "1.21 gigawatts!"

[Dracoro]

crmcatee said:

Is that the same guy that wrote the Cuckoo's egg. Cracking book I've read several times.. tracking a hacker in the times of modems, pagers and TTY printers.. Excellent read for those that have a techie background. Oh and see how he stumbled over the simple question during his university doctorate on "Why is the sky blue"


Background - astronomy sounds the same..

good book that.

all after finding accounts out by 75 cents!!

[pokethepope]

Never heard of him before today but watched the video and wikie'd him. If his entry is accurate, he teaches physics to 8th graders at a California school.

Also found it very interesting, he apparently said in a 1995 book that "e-commerce [would be] unviable due to a lack of personal contact."

[crmcatee]

Yes - having watched the video now - yes, its the same guy.

Might have to go and find the book in the loft and read it again...