Max Vernon Mathews has been called the father of computer music. He created electronic tools so that people could use computers as musical instruments. He had a huge influence on the development of electronic music and how it is written, recorded and played.

    In 1957, Max Mathews wrote the first computer program that enabled a computer to create sound and play it back. At the time, he was working as an engineer at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. His computer program was called Music. It enabled a large IBM computer to play a seventeen-second piece of music that he had written.

    The computer was so slow that it would have taken an hour to play the piece of music in seventeen seconds. For that reason, Mathews moved the work to a tape player, which could be sped up to play the music at a normal speed. He later said that the sound quality of the music notes was not great, but the technical importance of the music was huge.

    The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke visited Bell Laboratories in the 1960s. He heard a computer “sing” the song "Daisy Bell" on devices and programs developed by Max Mathews andother engineers. Clarke noted this technology in his book “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which was later made into a movie.

    Mathews continued creating other versions of the Music program. He became interested in how computers could help musicians outside recording studios.

    Max Mathews had a long and productive career. He worked with composers like John Cage and Edgard Varese. He helped create a center for research in computer music in Paris. And he taught at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics in Stanford University in California.

    Mathews believed modern musicians were not making full use of the power of computer music. He said a violin always sounds like a violin, but with a computer, the way a violin sounds is unlimited. He said he did not want computer sounds to replace live music. But he said he hoped laptop computers would one day be considered serious instruments

    Here's this week's list of four open jobs throughout the local area. Whether you're unemployed and need a job or you are just sick of the one you have, Roswell Patch wants to help. We know new jobs can be hard to come by these days, which is why we'll try to post a selection of jobs we've found in the area on the site each week. Happy hunting!

    Part-time Spanish Instructor—World Language Institute, Inc. – Roswell.

World Language Institute, Inc. in Roswell is currently hiring a part-time, native-speaking Spanish assistant. A background in relevant work and a driving license are a must for applicants, who can drive a 15-passenger bus to pick up students from several schools, from 2 p. m. – 6 p. m. Monday-Friday. You'll be paid $400 each week. More information about the job is available online.

    Experienced Servers—Chili's – Alpharetta

    Chili's in Alpharetta is seeking experienced servers to add to its team. Qualifications will include being clean and neat and having great attitude and customer service skills. The pay is $1,500 per month, tips not included. Stop by the store to fill out an application. More information about this position is available online.

Registered Nurses—North Fulton Regional Hospital-Roswell

    North Fulton Regional Hospital is looking for a RN/Registered Nurse to fill a 12-hour night shift. Applicants must be registered and previous hospital experience is preferred. The position pays $2,000 per month. More information about the position is available online.

    Software Engineer—ControlScan-Alpharetta

    ControlScan in Alpharetta is hiring a software engineer. Applicants should have five or more years of relevant experience, as well as advanced knowledge of computer technology. Pay is relevant to experience. More information about the position can be found online.

    Tim Berners-Lee is not the most famous inventor in the world. However, his invention has changed our lives.

    He was born in London, England in 1955.When he was a small boy, Tim was interested in playing with electrical things. He studied science at Oxford University. He made his first computer from an old television at the age of 21.

    Tim started working on early computers. At that time, they were much bigger than now. He worked in England then Switzerland. Tim was really interested in two things, computers and how the brain works. How could the brain connect so many facts so quickly? He had to work with people all over the world. They shared information about computers. It was hard to manage all the information. He answered the same questions again and again. It took a lot of time. It was even difficult for computers in the same office in Switzerland to share information. Tim also forgot things easily. Could a computer work like a brain? Could it "talk" to other computers?

    There was an Internet already but it was difficult to use. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) all by himself. This had a special language that helped computers talk to each other on the Internet. When people wanted to share information with others, they used the World Wide Web. The Internet grew quickly after that.

    Tim Berners-Lee doesn't think he did anything special. He says that all of the ideas about the Internet were already there. All he did was to put them together. He says that many other people worked together to make the Internet what it is today.

    Most inventors want to become rich. But Tim gave away the World Wide Web for nothing. He now works in America. He helps people share technology and wants the Internet to be free for everyone to use. Maybe he is the most important but least famous inventor in the world today!

    In 1999, 36­year­old Tori Murden McClure became the first woman to row also (单独地) across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. The journey of just over 5,300 kilometers took the American 81 days. Her boat, The American Pearl, was only 7 meters long.

    McClure is a real adventurer. She has been on many mountaineering expeditions, including climbs in Alaska, Kenya and Antarctica. She was also the youngest person in a team that skied 1, 200 kilometers across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1989, and became one of only two women ever to travel to the Pole by land.

    The journey across the Atlantic was her third attempt. The first time she failed because of illness, and during her second attempt, in 1998, she nearly died. She had rowed nearly 5,000 kilometers when her boat was hit by Hurricane Danielle. McClure was suddenly in the middle of 80 kph wind, and surrounded by waves that were 20 meters high. Her little boat turned over five times. McClure was sure that she was going to die­she took the video recorder that she had brought with her and recorded a farewell message to her family and friends. The hurricane continued into night, and The American Pearl turned over five more times. McClure was determined not to send a signal asking to be rescued­she didn't want other people to risk their lives, too. But after the eleventh turning over of her boat, she finally sent it and a large ship came and found her. However, they couldn't get her boat out of the rough sea­it was found months later near the coast of Portugal.

    Tori McClure had concussion (脑震荡) and a dislocated shoulder when she got home. Many people might have given up after an experience such as this, but one year later, McClure was back in her repaired boat and trying again. This time she was successful­and although she again met a hurricane on the journey, which stopped her from breaking the record for the fastest transatlantic (横渡大西洋的) rowing crossing, she only overturned once!

The ancient Herculaneum scrolls (卷轴)are thought to contain works of important thinkers in ancient Greece. But the scrolls can't be unrolled (打开). Even a light wind threatens to reduce them to dust. The reason is that they were turned into carbon by a natural disaster in A.D. 79.

But now researchers from the University of Kentucky have found a way to look inside the scrolls without having to touch them. They first create a light that is 10 billion times brighter than the sun by taking advantage of a machine. Then they will use the light to go through the Herculaneum scrolls to study and finally read the words recorded on the scrolls. Researchers think it might take them six months to read the scrolls.

This isn't the first time researchers have tried to read the Herculaneum scrolls. Several years ago, scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) worked on uncovering the mystery using an X-ray beam 100 billion times brighter than anything used in a hospital, This didn't allow scientists to actually read the scrolls, but it allowed them to make one surprising discovery. The scrolls were written in metallic (金属的) ink, a writing technology that scientists didn't know existed at the time the scrolls were penned.

"For a long time, we thought our studies have let us know everything about the ancient ink used to write on scrolls. Now we find it's not the case. This shows that we should tell ourselves it may not be true when thinking we fully know something once some research is done," said Daniel Delattre, one of the study's authors.

The finding wasn't just a historical curiosity. To learn just how special these scrolls are, consider that the thinker Chrysippus in ancient Greece is said to have written over 700 works; but all are lost, with the exception of a few works found in the Herculaneum scrolls. In other words, it's possible that these scrolls represent the only existing complete works left by this great thinker. And who knows what other great works could exist in the scrolls?

Daphne Soares, a biologist, makes an amazing discovery about alligators. The first time she got really close to an alligator (短吻鳄) was when she was helping to bold down an eight-foot American alligator. It was then that she noticed is face was covered with little black spots. This led to the discovery of the little black dots.

She started her study of the black dots. When she read the books and scientific journals, she learned that people had noticed the dots, but no one really knew what the dots were for.

To find out the secret she placed electrodes (电极) on nerves coming from some of the dots. When the nerves fired, they sent a message to the brain and created a tiny electric current. Just then she heard a small sound over a loudspeaker. She tired to see if the dots acted like eyes and temperature sensors, but nothing worked.

One day she was careless with dropping a tool into an alligator's tank. When she put her hand in the tank to get the tool out, she made small waves in the water. When they reached the alligator's face, she heard a noise over the speaker. She then realized that the dots must be sensitive to the changes in pressure when hit by waves of water.

After that, she is now studying blind cavefish. She is trying to learn whether they are blind from birth or lose their sight as they grow up. She is also doing more research on crocodilians (鳄目). She wants to find out how the genes of alligators with pressure sensors only on their faces differ from the genes of crocodilians that have pressure sensors all over their body.