[geeks] New Horizons

[Patrick Giagnocavo 717-201-3366]

On Sat, 2006-01-21 at 15:32, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> 
> It's just that only a few physicists understand Heim's work, so I worry
> a little that the first step should be funding research into the theory
> itself rather than jumping into "let's build warp drive".
> 
> Then again, maybe the idea is that pushing forward now will catalyze
> understanding and spread it as well.

There is sort-of precedent in that in the field of optics, there were excellent lens designs that could not be put into production until some part of materials science caught up.

For instance, the expensive "Planar" style lens design that you will find on expensive Hasselblad, Rolleiflex, Carl Zeiss (on some Sony digicams) etc. lenses, was designed almost 30 years before it was actually practical.  

The reason was that the ability to properly coat the lenses to reduce glare, loss of contrast, "lens flare", and other optically-bad things, was not around when the lens was designed. 

Only after WWII did the ability to have multiple-coated lens elements allow the lens design to be perfected and end up as a practical design.

Later, lenses whose surface is not part of a section of a sphere, known as aspherical lenses, also became possible (the Leica Noctilux f1.2 lens, which was also based on a highly modified Planar design that Leitz has been working with for over 60 years now).  

It was certainly known that asph. lenses could correct certain lens defects, but the difficulty was in producing them.

sorry for being a geek on this...oh wait, I am on the geeks list ... :-)

--Patrick