Britains greatest invention BBC2 Thursday

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grober

grober

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This Thursday at 8.30pm BBC 2 . Perhaps a couple glaring omissions 1. the World Wide Web - Tim Berners-Lee? and 2. the first working full body MRI scanner- Prof John Mallard
https://youtu.be/m7JSWh6zbr0
[YOUTUBE HD]m7JSWh6zbr0[/YOUTUBE HD]
 
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Haven`t watched anything apart from Top Gear on BBC2 in years but I might watch that :)
 
Concorde. No question. As yet unsurpassed. Designed and flew in the 60's.

Still a thing of great beauty. One of the biggest mistakes ever to take it out of service.

Sir Tim Bernners Lee was one of a group of people who simply adopted a naming convention onto an existing infrastructure. It really isnt that great an achievment in the scheme of things. The internet has changed the world but Berners Lee had nowt to do with that.
 
Alfie said:
Concorde. No question. As yet unsurpassed. Designed and flew in the 60's.

Still a thing of great beauty. One of the biggest mistakes ever to take it out of service.

Sir Tim Bernners Lee was one of a group of people who simply adopted a naming convention onto an existing infrastructure. It really isnt that great an achievment in the scheme of things. The internet has changed the world but Berners Lee had nowt to do with that.
Click to expand...

Taking Concorde out of service was sad but inevitable. Pre-flight manufacturer support and sign-off for technical issues was getting increasingly expensive and was ultimately withdrawn. Engines were approaching end-of-life with no replacements available. The avionics systems needed to be upgraded. The financial downturn in 2008 changed the business travel landscape reducing seat demand, (though I understand that those who did use Concorde would have been 'happy' to pay more for a seat if need be). Reinforced and therefore heavier fuel tanks, resulted in heavier take-off weight and increased fuel consumption and operating costs. Etc.

I agree that it was/is a truly iconic design that has yet to be surpassed. Saw it at Farnborough in '69 and sat in the one at Manchester Airport a while ago. Still a fantastic aircraft.
 
Concorde was a very fast passenger aeroplane...but hardly an invention as such, merely a development of existing technology. A great piece of kit...

Inventions should change the world...Concorde didn't.

Antibiotics wins it for me.
 
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Antibiotics were not invented rather, discovered.

The world wide web was a development on existing technology. The internet was a development on existing technology (Arpanet). Difficult to define an actual invention except perhaps the microchip, the wheel?
 
The thing about Concorde is that it was incredibly expensive, costing taxpayers well over £1billion. Yes it traveled at more than twice the speed of sound but it was incredibly loud on takeoff and landing and it used a military-grade engines that were woefully not fuel efficient, actively fighting every square inch of air pressure rather than encouraging airflow and fuel efficiency like the engines in commercial planes. The development and operating costs trickled down to the few passengers fortunate enough to fly on it. Round trip tickets from London to NYC would cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000.

Concorde was said to have been built to prove that it was possible, rather than prove that it was feasible and commercial. The interior of the Concorde was tight and cramped, the seats were small and uncomfortable, and the windows didn't have much of a view. Despite the fact it came with gifts like fancy flasks, silver tie clips, and champagne and caviar, a flight didn't feel quite as luxurious as the one might think.

But God, was it cool. :cool: Imagine going from New York City to Singapore in 7 hours. Normally, it would take 17. London to Washington D.C. in 3 hours.

I do think there's still hope for supersonic commercial flight. Several companies are working on projects right now that aim to research greater streamlining properties designed to reduce or even eliminate the sonic boom such a plane would produce.
 
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The golden age of British inventions was for me the time of Brunel and the age of steam and iron ships.
When industrious people were practical wheel tappers and shunters club engineers!

Today we have too many key tappers and paper shufflers club members in society.
Going into industry today as a school leaver is regarded as a consolation prize in your career paths unfortunately.
BUT
To be prosperous you need to make things people want to buy!
In short you need to be more than a nation of shopkeepers.

I would like to see that program--looks interesting--thanks for posting the trailer!
Tuercas Viejas
 
Conquistador said:
The thing about Concorde is that it was incredibly expensive, costing taxpayers well over £1billion. Yes it traveled at more than twice the speed of sound but it was incredibly loud on takeoff and landing and it used a military-grade engines that were woefully not fuel efficient, actively fighting every square inch of air pressure rather than encouraging airflow and fuel efficiency like the engines in commercial planes. The development and operating costs trickled down to the few passengers fortunate enough to fly on it. Round trip tickets from London to NYC would cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000.

Concorde was said to have been built to prove that it was possible, rather than prove that it was feasible and commercial. The interior of the Concorde was tight and cramped, the seats were small and uncomfortable, and the windows didn't have much of a view. Despite the fact it came with gifts like fancy flasks, silver tie clips, and champagne and caviar, a flight didn't feel quite as luxurious as the one might think.

But God, was it cool. :cool: Imagine going from New York City to Singapore in 7 hours. Normally, it would take 17. London to Washington D.C. in 3 hours.

I do think there's still hope for supersonic commercial flight. Several companies are working on projects right now that aim to research greater streamlining properties designed to reduce or even eliminate the sonic boom such a plane would produce.
Click to expand...

I was lucky enough to travel on it to New York in 3 hours. It was most definately comfortable, luxurious and the smoothest flight I have ever taken. Not a hint of turbulence at 60,000ft. Cramped? It was not. The windows although smaller than average aircraft gave a perfectly acceptable view of the deep purple sky and the curvature of the earth. An unbelieveable experience. Never again will I feel a surge of acceleration from 950mph to 1400mph as after burners kicked in.

Worth every penny.
 
Concorde never made a profit....

Like Eurotunnel, Concorde never made a profit.

The French and British picked up the out of control development and build costs and passed only the operating costs to the two airlines, who were just about able to raise enough revenue to cover the day to day operating costs, in providing this excellent fast service, until the planes began to wear out.

It was an impressive product, but this was no game changer like the 747.

Here's some discussion of how simple economics stopped it from being replaced:

For Concorde, Economics Trumped Technology - The New York Times

6fc0e6237387ab7b0b181f767f209947.jpg
 
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