Phillips Hydraulic Computer

gocarts · June 10, 2009, 17:21

I came across the Phillips Economics (Hydraulic) Computer on a recent visit to the British Science Museum. It's a fluid computer that simulates the economy dating back to 1949.

How cool is that? - a fluid performing a computation.

Just image if there'd been a delay in the development of digital computers - we might all have ended up simulating electronics using fluids.

For more try the background story at Wikipedia and a live action video thanks to Cambridge Uni.

vishyaroon · June 15, 2009, 16:28

Nice post Richard.

Your post came at a very good time for me. I was looking for some interesting applications of the fluid mechanics principles (just out of curiosity) and was looking for studies where the fluid mechanics principles are being used in traffic engineering.

The wikipedia article on MONIAC is interesting. Thank you

June 10, 2009, 17:21	Phillips Hydraulic Computer	#1
gocarts Senior Member Richard Smith Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Enfield, NH, USA Posts: 138 Blog Entries: 4 Rep Power: 17	I came across the Phillips Economics (Hydraulic) Computer on a recent visit to the British Science Museum. It's a fluid computer that simulates the economy dating back to 1949. How cool is that? - a fluid performing a computation. Just image if there'd been a delay in the development of digital computers - we might all have ended up simulating electronics using fluids. For more try the background story at Wikipedia and a live action video thanks to Cambridge Uni. aero_head likes this. __________________ Symscape, Computational Fluid Dynamics for all

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June 15, 2009, 16:28		#2
vishyaroon Senior Member Aroon Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Racine WI Posts: 148 Rep Power: 17	Nice post Richard. Your post came at a very good time for me. I was looking for some interesting applications of the fluid mechanics principles (just out of curiosity) and was looking for studies where the fluid mechanics principles are being used in traffic engineering. The wikipedia article on MONIAC is interesting. Thank you