I worked for the employment department in California [EDD} when they got a
second megabyte of memory for the mainframe. They were so proud! It cost
them less than a dollar a byte [Around $750,000 IIRC]. That was CORE
storage.

Mike

On 4/16/10 6:40 PM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Funny how things work out. When Germany surrendered, we got the liquid
> scientists here in Huntsville. The Russians took the solid fuel scientists.
> They had powerful rockets that could throw anything into space, but they
> couldn't be controlled as well for exploration. We got the weaker liquid
> rockets because of the German team we got. We therefore focused on
> miniaturizing everything we put into space. That led to the transistor. That
> led to personal computers. That led to the internet that we are
> communication on right now.
>
> One time when I was at NASA with my dad, Dr. Von Braun knew I was there and
> came out and asked me to hold something. He put a funny-looking cube in my
> hands. It was the strung iron core memory (anyone remember THAT?) for the
> mercury capsule, about 16 bits in all if I remember. He said "you're holding
> two million dollars." What a feeling!
>
> Jim
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:27 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Jim,
>>
>> I envy the extent of your experience with him! I met Werner when he was
>> Director of Marshall Spacecraft Center. We spent an amazing 3+ hours
>> together during our first meeting on so many subjects including our mutual
>> acquaintance, Dr. Willy Ley. I had interviewed Dr. Ley when still in high
>> school and spent an amazing weekend at his home on Long Island. I had a
>> number of shorter exchanges with him during later years. I later came to
>> know Werner even better after he left NASA. As a history buff and amateur
>> archaeologist, I was able to visit Peenemunde, Nordhausen and many of the V2
>> sites. I was always interested in the chemistry and engineering of liquid
>> rocket based propulsion and he got me invitations to several reviews of the
>> Saturn propulsion system. Our greatest overlap was the dream of exploring
>> Mars. He was focussed on human flight to Mars and I have always been
>> interested in searching for signs of life or of a second genesis beyond the
>> earth. Incredible memories! The man was the most spell-binding imagemaker I
>> ever encountered!
>>
>> Frank Grunthaner
>>
>> On Apr 16, 2010, at 5:31:32 PM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From:"Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com>Subject:Re: VW quality & Mercedes
>> FI & Japanese FI - was - Massive Maintenance and costDate:April 16, 2010
>> 5:31:32 PM PDTTo:frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com>Cc:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
>> Where did you run into Von Braun? My dad worked for him. Everybody
>> here knew him, we all went to the NASA picnics, tours of NASA, say him
>> at sears buying a lawnmower and stuff like that around town.
>>
>> He gave me a "Ticket to Mars in Your Lifetime" once. I left it at my
>> grandparents' house and never saw it again. Wish I still had it!
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:48 PM, frankgrun <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:
>>> Neat! Knew the man well, never the daughter!
>>>
>>> Frank Grunthaner
>>>
>>> On Apr 16, 2010, at 4:14:57 PM, "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
>>>
>>> From:  "Alistair Bell" <albell@SHAW.CA>
>>> Subject:    Re: VW quality & Mercedes FI & Japanese FI - was - Massive
>>> Maintenance and cost
>>> Date:   April 16, 2010 4:14:57 PM PDT
>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>> Ah ha, looks like the Triumph was just giving you the old "up yours"
>>> on account of your passenger's father.
>>>
>>> :)
>>>
>>> alistair
>>>
>>>
>>> On 16-Apr-10, at 2:45 PM, Jim Felder wrote:
>>>  Maybe it was the TR4 distributor that flew apart in the middle of a
>>> Georgia forest with
>>> Dr. Werner Von Braun's daughter in the passenger seat in the middle of
>>> the night on the way to Atl anta.
>>>
>>
>>
>>