Why should this be surprising? After all NASA also created Teflon. And
practically everything else you can think of. There is even a rumor that
the "wheel" is one of their spin-offs. But this last claim I tend not to
believe.
Kalman Schulgasser
----- Original Message -----
From: "J F V Vincent" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 5:13 PM
Subject: Novel attribution of Velcro
> A new company - Nova-Mind - has produced some quite nice mind-mapping
software.
> However, on one of their diagrams (access at
> http://www.nova-mind.com/Gallery/brainstorming.jpg) they have attributed
velcro
> to a brainstorming session at NASA in the early '60s. When I queried this
> provenance they said that they got the information from an impeccable
source -
> the Readers' Digest! I sent them the proper information from the Velcro
web
> site but have had no reply.
>
> I think we owe it to our interest in biomimetics as a source of ideas to
> question their interpretation of history, and suggest to you that you
examine
> the illustration to which I have given the reference (the velcro bit is in
the
> lower part of the diagram) then write and ask Nova-Mind where they got the
> information from and (as a supplementary question) why they think their
> information source is better than Velcro SA. Nova-Mind can be contacted
> through one of the addresses given on
> http://www.nova-mind.com/Mainnovamind.html
>
> Perhaps you'd like to post your experiences / responses on this mail
base?!
>
> Julian Vincent
>
> --
> Julian FV Vincent [log in to unmask]
> Professor of Biomimetics office 01225 386596
> Centre for Biomimetic & Natural Technologies mobile 07941 933901
> Dept of Mechanical Engineering fax 01225 386928
> The University
> BATH BA2 7AY
>
> http://www.bath.ac.uk/Departments/Eng/biomimetics/
>
> I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
>
|