Years ago, I saw a documentary by artist David Hockney that argued that the Dutch Masters achieved their extraordinary photo-realism with aid from secret lens-based devices. Now a
new film is being released with a similar theory, in which an American inventor with no art training attempts to
recreate a Vermeer painting using advanced-for-its-time lens technology. Although art experts prefer the "he was just a genius" idea, this seems very convincing as a way to make photos before photography was invented. What is fascinating is the lengths people had to go for something we all take for granted now.
The National Museum of Computing has a new exhibit, a 1960s ICT 1301 otherwise known as "Flossie". Weighing in at over 5 tons, this one only has few tubes but is full of early germanium transistors, along with apparatus for punched cards, tape storage and printing. It's claim to fame is being the first mass-produced business computer, and as one of the curators says, this meant that no special wiring/ducting was needed in the office where it was installed. The once cutting-edge looks were apparently shown off in a Bond film, and I also suspect a similar device was the titular star of the second sequel of a certain other spy film series.
