Saturday, January 6, 2018

Star Wars and Calculators

Star Wars and Calculators?

Yes, you read that correctly.  It turns out that in the classic 1977 movie Star Wars IV – A New Hope, Luke Skywalker’s (played by Mark Hamill) lightsaber contains a part found in calculators (at the time).  That part was a seven-bulb bubble lens LED module, which was attached to a Graflex flash. 

Several known calculators had this bubble lens module in its display, such as the Exactra 19 and Exactra 20 calculators.   The Exactra models, manufactured by Texas Instruments, were made in request for more affordable calculators by the Ohio State University..

For more details click on the links below: 

“Star Wars IV – A New Hope (1977)” – Joerg Woerner

“Lightsaber Skywalker” – Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff
Link: http://www.partsofsw.com/skysab.htm

Full credit goes to the authors (Woerner, Trevas, and Reiff).  

It is really cool to know that a calculator contributed to saving our galaxy from the dark side.

And may all the calculations be with you.


Eddie

This blog is property of Edward Shore, 2018. 

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