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> I suggest reading Feynman's account of the Challenger's O-ring failure, as
> well. It's in one of his biographies (either "Surely you're joking, Mr
> Feynman," or "What do you care what other people think?"--I can't recall
> which one).
>
> It wasn't easy to bring the information to light via the usual methods
(that
> is, verbal or written explanation), so Feynman resorted to using graphical
> means: hence, the famous ice-water demonstration.
>
What was interesting is that this O-ring information was fed to him by a
high-up in the military - either a general or colonel - well before the
meetings. Feynman got a sample, went to a hardware store to buy the clamp,
and even panicked when there weren't any glasses of ice water on the meeting
table that morning. He then dunked the clamped-down O-ring in the water and
waited.
Feynman was about to mention this when the general/colonel whispered to him
to wait. The general knew when the time of maximum impact would arrive
during the hearing - he had an idea what various witnesses were going to
say. When it the proper time arrived, he gave the thumbs-up to Feynman, who
showed everyone how the O-ring lost elastiicity in cold conditions.
This isn't denigrating Feynman's role. In fact, the above is in his book
("What do you care...") Feynman even muses about the fact that he was fed
this info by someone who clearly didn't want his name associated with it.
And Feynman didn't mind.
Paul Strasser
Windsor Technologies, Inc.
2569 Park Lane, Suite 200
Lafayette, Colorado 80026
Phone: 303-926-1982
FAX: 303-926-1510
E-mail: paul -dot- strasser -at- windsor-tech -dot- com
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