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Grace Hopper on Letterman

Name: Grace Hopper on Letterman
Description: Grace Hopper appears on Letterman and uses a foot-long piece of wire to show how far light travels in a nanosecond.

TheLazlo101

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1 HN user recommended this interview1 month2016–2018 score 1

Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Brought up whenever latency, light speed or the size of a nanosecond comes up, as the classic physical demonstration.

Grace Hopper appears on Letterman and uses a foot-long piece of wire to show how far light travels in a nanosecond.

“this seminal scene between the great, late Grace Hopper and David Letterman” (HN, 2017)

1 recommendations · 2 citations · Interviews

History of computing Tech pioneers & interviews Fundamental physics Interviews Computing History & Culture

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@bouvin Dec 2017 Recommends

on HN thread The fifth hyperfactorial: 5⁵ × 4⁴ × 3³ × 2² × 1¹ milliseconds is exactly 1 day

No mention of the foot per nanosecond is complete without this seminal scene between the great, late Grace Hopper and David Letterman: [this video]

Grace Hopper shows Letterman the foot-per-nanosecond wire demonstration

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Citations, criticism and jokes

@baldfat Nov 2016 Cites it

on HN thread SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

Latency Math (Almost 100ms faster then current technology) EDIT: This is only one way ALSO Grace Hopper telling David Letterman what a nano second is! [this video] 1 Nanosecond = distance light travels one foot 1 mile = 5260 nanoseconds (In a vacuum) Current Satellite Internet = 22,000 miles or 115720000 Nano Seconds = 115.72 ms SpaceX Low Orbit = 715 to 823 Miles 823 miles = 4328980 nano seconds = 4.3 ms

Grace Hopper explains a nanosecond as the distance light travels in a foot

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@adrianN Jul 2018 Cites it

on HN thread Traveling to the Sun: Why Won't Parker Solar Probe Melt?

Lightnanoseconds are a useful measure in everyday life as well. A lightnanosecond is about 30cm, or 1 foot. [this video]

Grace Hopper illustrating that a light-nanosecond is about one foot

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