Microsoft's Charles Simonyi to be 1st Nerd in Space

Richard L. James writes "The BBC are reporting that Hungarian-born Charles Simonyi, a 58-year old Microsoft billionaire software engineer is set to become the first 'nerd in space' on board the Soyuz TMA-10 when the spacecraft launches on Thursday 09th March 2007. Charles oversaw the development of Multiplan, Word, and Excel among many other achievements. He has launched a website detailing the 3 goals he wishes to achieve on the trip: advance civilian spaceflight, assist space station research, and involve kids in space sciences. Jó szerencse pölö Charles!"

First nerd???

[the_humeister]

I thought Mark Shuttleworth claimed that title (the Ubuntu guy)?

Re:First nerd???

[stefanlasiewski]

Many scientists have been in space. Some of them probably consider themselves 'nerds'.

Maybe I'm out of the loop with modern lingo, but 'nerd' doesn't necessarily have anything to do with computers.

Re:

[8ball629]

You haven't heard? Nerds can only be billionaire software engineers from Microsoft - the others are geeks. *end sarcasm*

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Geek = good

Nerd = bad

Geek Farm

[deathy_epl+ccs]

4 eyes good, 2 eyes bad.

Re:

[greenguy]

Oh, for mod points.

This is the best comment since... since... [slashdot.org]

Re:

[Andrew Kismet]

I just suffered the same fate as many who read that comment you linked to.
Coke all over my screen. Damn you.

Re:

[jbrader]

I usually go the other way. Nerd is a title given to people like us in a non-demeaning way. Geek is a person who bites the head off chickens in a circus.

Re:First nerd???

[rblancarte]

I would disagree - http://web.vee.net/stuff/geek-vs-nerd.html [vee.net]

Re:

[Jason1729]

Geek = biting the heads off live chickens.

Not so good imo.

Re:First nerd???

[Schemat1c]

You haven't heard? Nerds can only be billionaire software engineers from Microsoft - the others are geeks. *end sarcasm*

To all the geeks who will never experience space - *raises glass*

Re:First nerd???

[AGMW]

To all the geeks who will never experience space - *raises glass*

Hmmm. Raises unbreakable glass substitute.

itsatrap

[Mateo_LeFou]

There's no telling what he'll try to do up there

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

"Brilliant!" said pointer-to-array-of-unsigned-long (paul).

Re:First nerd???

[Bruce Perens]

Uh-huh. If we are counting people who got rich by being geeks, unlike the very many scientists who have been to space, pretty much all space tourists belong on the list. Dennis Tito was an engineer and his investment consulting business included quantitive analysis. If we are scoring operating systems, Shuttleworth was a Debian user while building Thawte.

Bruce

Re:

[Ben Hutchings]

According to Wikipedia, Anousheh Ansari [wikipedia.org] "received her Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University and her master's degree at George Washington University." Later, she made a large donation to the X-Prize. Sounds quite geeky to me.

Re:

[mapkinase]

First, wikipedia convinced me. Second, actually, it is not her education that would qualify her. It is this:

During her eight-day stay onboard the International Space Station, Ansari agreed to perform a series of experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency. She conducted four experiments [21], including:

* Researching the mechanisms behind anemia.
* How changes in muscles influence lower back pain.
* Consequences of sp

Re:First nerd???

[Anonymous Coward]

As always Microsoft coming late and saying they are First.

BUZZ ALDRIN

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd have guessed the first nerd in space would be Buzz Aldrin on Gemini XII, the last Gemini flight. He's the one with the PhD in Astronautics from MIT; the rest had masters or bachelor's, highest. Though, all of the Astronaut Group 1 and Astronaut Group 2 and Astronaut Group 3 were pretty much really smart people who have enough intelligence to be considered nerds, one going on to head up software on Apollo.

Not sure if Joe Walker on X-15 flights 90 and 91 (which went past 100km in altitude) should be con

Great. more Hungarian Notation?

[Chapter80]

I can't wait to see what personSimonyi does to the spacecraftSoyuzTMA-10 conventionNamingConvention.

Re:

[abandonment]

It's all for naught...trying to get proper spelling on slashdot that is ;}

astronaut / cosmonaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut [wikipedia.org]

Nerd card revoked........

[CptnHarlock]

The grammar nazi allready bashed you for the spelling so I'll take the second round.. :)

Sputnic [sic] wasn't a dog. It was the first satelite [wikipedia.org] launched into space. Sputnik means satelite but also companion, or even better "co-traveller" in russian. Laika [wikipedia.org] was the first dog (living creature [not counting bacteria and the like clinging to the insides of satelites]) in space.

Back on subject, this here Charles is definitely not the first geek/nerd in space. It's a joke to try and take the title just because he's got som media dweebs to back his claim. All true geeks/nerds know the truth anyway.. :P

Cheers!..

Yuri Gagarin

[Airconditioning]

Wouldn't he qualify as first geek in space? I mean, the Russians didn't send a painter up did they?

Re:Yuri Gagarin

[roystgnr]

Wouldn't he qualify as first geek in space?

No; he's not even the first geek in space this fall. [wikipedia.org]

According to The Fine Article, the "first nerd in space" moniker is actually Dr. Simonyi's speculation about himself, not just the mistake of some clueless reporter - in fact the reporter mentioned three previous nerdy space tourists. My mind boggles - surely before deciding to spend millions of dollars on this trip, Dr. Simonyi thought to learn a little about his predecessors?

Re:Yuri Gagarin

[booch]

He's a Microsoft engineer. Obviously his delusions of grandeur are not limited to work.

Nor are unfounded claims of originality.

Re:Yuri Gagarin

[The Cydonian]

He's a Microsoft engineer. Obviously his delusions of grandeur are not limited to work.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he the guy who developed the Hungarian notation (not that developing code-standards should lead to fame, fortune and grandeur, but just sayin')

Re:

[ocbwilg]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he the guy who developed the Hungarian notation (not that developing code-standards should lead to fame, fortune and grandeur, but just sayin')

Yes he is. That's why they call it "hungarian notation". He also hasn't worked for Microsoft since 2002. Right now he's running a company called Intentional Software [intentionalsoftware.com].

Re:

[Amazing Quantum Man]

\i{I mean, the Russians didn't send a painter up did they?}

Back on Vokhshod I. Alexei Leonov.

first nerd in space?

[motank]

yeah, cos everyone that's gone to space so far has been a football jock right?

Re:

[Architect_sasyr]

Well obviously! Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to jump like that...

Re:first nerd in space?

[kfg]

Well, the first couple of batches were fighter jocks, actually, hard men with extensive combat experience; but that didn't preclude them from being geeks/nerds as well.

The first American in space, Alan Shepard, had a Bachelor of Science from Annapolis.

Or take the first two men on the moon (please). Neil Armstrong had a Bachelor of Science from Purdue and a Master of Aeronautical Engineering from USC (and had been accepted at MIT). Buzz Aldrin majored in Science at West Point and eventually earned a PhD from MIT.

Jocks with slide rules. It happens.

KFG

Re:

[kfg]

I for one welcome our slide rules bearing jocks overlords....

Beats the shit out of the nuns. Ya ever been rapped across the knuckles with a Pickett N4-ES?

KFG

go nerds

[Anonymous Coward]

Nerdy? Well can he quote the Holy Grail and make you ROTFLOL?

His first question to the Russians

[edwardpickman]

"Okay this'll get me laid, right?"

Re:

[PsychicX]

According to his Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] article, he is dating Martha Stewart.

Clearly women are not a focus of his life.

Re:

[c6gunner]

EWWWWWWWWW!

So his real first question must have been:

"Ok, so this will get me someone better than Martha, right?"

science nerd

[arun_s]

Microsoft bashing aside, this is the guy who's founded the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. Richard Dawkins is the current head. I guess that qualifies him pretty much as a (science) nerd.
He still didn't have to put up a Flash 9 only website, though.

Re:science nerd

[Protonk]

No, this is the guy who donated enough money to have a tenured position named after him. The real prevailing factors here are money and some sufficient amount of respectability--Oxford wasn't waiting around for Ghandi, but the chair wasn't to be named after Pauli Shore.

they read my mind

[rifftide]

I've often thought, whoever came up with this convention for naming variables ought to be shut in a Russian spacecraft and sent far, far away.

Re:they read my mind

[Sqwubbsy]

So will this make him a spcExplorer?

Termination

[joe_n_bloe]

Being fired is one thing ... but being fired into space?

Required Star Trek joke...

[__aaclcg7560]

Gone where no Windows has gone before... along with the anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall and sun block.

Bullshit.

[Alex Belits]

I am sure, in nearly half a century of manned space flight there were many cosmonauts/astronauts that are nerdier than some rich Microsoft guy.

Jó szerencse pölö Charles = ?

[A beautiful mind]

Jó szerencse == Good luck pölö == ??? (it could be póló, which means tshirt or a phonetic version of pl, meaning "for example" but I haven't the slightest idea what did they mean to write)

by a native hungarian in the early morning (so if I missed something obvious, it's early!).

Re:Jó szerencse pölö Charles = ?

[mountiealpha]

Amen. WTF was that all about? Besides, it should be Jó szerencsét, Károly, no?

Re:Jó szerencse pölö Charles = ?

[theStorminMormon]

I love that even though Hungary is a nation of what, 10 million, you can always find at least a couple Hungarians on a tech site. Can you always find a few Slovakians? A few Romanians? A few Albanians? To be honest - I don't know. Since I lived in Hungary for two years, that's what I pay attention to.

Here's my question, however. Who from Hungary wants to send me some decent kolbasz? Kakaos csigakok perhaps? Maybe even just some decent recipes for rakott krumpli or toltott paprika?

I really miss Hunga

Exact translation:

[Gorimek]

"My hovercraft is full of eels"

breaking barriers

[qw0ntum]

I for one am glad we're finally breaking the nerd in space barrier. I mean, it's not like we've ever seen a molecular biologist or astrophysicist go into space. No, they are far too nerdy for something like that.

FYI

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Charles Simonyi is the Hungarian in Hungarian notation (you know, m_lpszUsrTxt and the like).

To be entirely fair to him, it wasn't intended to make variable names inscrutable, it applied to a language with weak type checking and few real types, and it still has valid uses today [joelonsoftware.com] if you use it to mark information about the type of data instead of the "type" of variable.

Re:

[Procyon101]

There are many problems with it though. First, there is absolutely no enforcement of such typing, which means that if the "type" changes in the future, you have documentation in your code that is linked to the code itself and much more difficult to change... which actually encourages the "out of date" comment problem. Secondly, it was popularized to such an extent as to be obnoxious.. leading to things like: for(int nCount=0;nCount10;nCount++); Thirdly, it gets unweildy for the cases when it begins to be

Re:

[rolfwind]

Yup, the excuse for bad variable names all around. Data types and variable types change, don't stick it in the name - the IDE should tell you the type, it's more reliable too. Hungarian notation can be a source of errors in this way if the type is changed but not the name. Yeah, you can change the name in some cases, and in some cases you can't (like when the functions and inputs become an API).

Re:

[EvanED]

Did you read the link that was posted a couple comments up? Almost all of the original suggestions AREN'T putting the data type in the name. They're stuff like 'd' to mark that the variable is a delta -- x is an absolute position, dx is a difference between two points. If you see code like x1 + x2 then, that should raise your eyebrow. The linked article gives the example of using 'us' and 's' to prefix unsafe and safe strings respectively, where "unsafe" means "just came in over the network; protect against

Re:

[prockcore]

First, there is absolutely no enforcement of such typing, which means that if the "type" changes in the future, you have documentation in your code that is linked to the code itself and much more difficult to change

The best example of this is the proliferation of "lp" prefixes scattered throughout windows. The long pointer hasn't existed since windows 3.1

Re:

[Octorian]

And you gotta love how MS manged to basically typedef/#define just about every single data type in their API. As such, Win32 C/C++ code starts to almost look like its entirely own programming language.

Of course in my occasional attempt at poking fun at Windows programming, I like to cite two different API function specification styles I've seen. Style 1 seems to involve a function with a few parameters, each of which is a 50-item struct. Style 2 seems to involve a function that just has 50 parameters (so

Re:

[syousef]

Charles Simonyi is the Hungarian in Hungarian notation (you know, m_lpszUsrTxt and the like).

All in favour of shooting this guy off into space?

The I's have it. Motion carried.

Re:

[smoker2]

The I's have it. Motion carried.

Or even :

The ayes have it. Motion carried.

(aye) [thefreedictionary.com]

Re:

[nebby]

Actually there are many cases where you want to describe your intention in using a certain variable that doesn't warrant a new data type. For (a simple) example, an input or output buffer. You need two buffers, no need to declare two different types, but one is for input and one is for output. By describing your intentions of the input vs output in a clear and consistent way throughout your code, you make it much more likely you will visually catch errors. Additionally, new programmers will understand your

Re:

[tfinniga]

But really, how hard is it to make them different types? Like, say, istream and ostream? If you use the type much at all, it's not hard, and then you don't need to check visually - they're strongly typed. If you don't use the type much, just rely on plain old variable names and comments. A semi-machine-readable, semi-codified system semi-solves a problem that's much better tackled in different ways.

We've been using many, many types in a codebase I work on, and templates make multiple types very easy

Re:

[tfinniga]

Well, it looks like you're using Hungarian to encode meaning into the variable name. That's great - variable name is a wonderful place to put descriptive information about what the variable is, and how it's used.

I'm saying that there are a couple of different levels at which you can do this. If you're not using the variable in a given way very much, in the variable name is great. However, I may be spoiled, but I tend to use human-readable variable names. Compilers no longer have a limit to symbol nam

Re:

[EvanED]

Most modern languages in wide use support user defined data types

But not necessarily well. For instance, there's only one language I know of that provides language support for "strong" typedefs: D. And I don't know anyone who has ever used D. (Incidentally, this would be high on my list for additions.)

What are you going to do then if you want to create your own string? Take an existing string and copy and paste? Include it twice with a #define string unsafe_string? There's not a very elegant solution. You c

Oh come on Charles...

[hvnarsana]

.. do you really really think that to achieve either/or of the 3 goals you need to spend a truckload (or 10) of cash to go into space? Why not use the money to advocate better education, books, and a series of talks by prominent astronauts or the like? I find this to be a colossal waste of finances and time, which could be better utilized.

Publicity Stunt

[Garrett Fox]

The 3 goals he wishes to achieve on the trip: advance civilian spaceflight, assist space station research, and involve kids in space sciences.

That's what struck me most about the post: our focus on putting Humans In Space doesn't actually accomplish anything in terms of getting us to Mars, or even back to Luna, other than "raise awareness." In other words, it's just a publicity stunt.

I applaud all the private space flight ventures, but where is the exploration? I don't mean we should be focusing on rob

Re:

[kfg]

Why not use the money to advocate better education, books, and a series of talks by prominent astronauts or the like?

From Wikipedia:

Simonyi has been an active philanthropist, establishing the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, the first occupant of which is Richard Dawkins. In January 2004, Simonyi created the $50 million Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, through which Simonyi plans to support Seattle area arts, science, and educational programs.

1st Nerd?!?! What a crock!

[cascadefx]

I guess the submitter (I hope it wasn't the editor's) didn't realize that a heck of a lot of physicists and astronomers and other hard core scientists have been to space way before Charles Simonyi. If his point was that he was the first somewhat famous computer geek to make it into space, he would be wrong again. Simonyi was beaten to the punch years ago by Mark Shuttleworth of Thawte and Ubunutu Linux [ubuntu.com] fame.

Re:

[David Off]

Okay how about "first purveyor of bug riddled software and daft eastern european ideas about programming" in space? Is that okay?

Whoever cares to know

[Anonymous Coward]

The last sentences means good luck Charles.

sz_Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

sz_I p_guess u_congratulations sz_are m_in p_order.

"oversaw development" =??= nerd

[GodWasAnAlien]

I'm pretty sure many previous "rocket scientists" are more nerdy than someone that went on a software to managment track.

AHA!

[tomstdenis]

He's the one to blame for Word.... :-)

Just finished my 2nd book ... in Word ...

My 3rd book will be in LaTeX [like my first].

That said, who gives a flying shit about some billionaire honky in space? Personally I'd think of cooler things to do with my money. I'd arbitrarily make cool people "funded" so they could pursue research and fun projects. Just all spontaneous like. That's just for starters...

Spending it on the big houses, cars, boats, etc is just cliche and lame. Once you get past your 1st 12,000

Re:

[ocbwilg]

That said, who gives a flying shit about some billionaire honky in space? Personally I'd think of cooler things to do with my money. I'd arbitrarily make cool people "funded" so they could pursue research and fun projects. Just all spontaneous like. That's just for starters...

Yeah. Instead of blowing his money on space travel, he ought to be funding "cool" things. Like starting companies that research and teach cool new programming techniques. Or maybe endowing the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Pu

Re:

[tomstdenis]

Ok, the thing is I still have a point. If he *is* doing those cool and useful things, why aren't we hearing about it here? I'd much rather read about rich people doing actual good things [well I'd like to read about ANYONE doing good things] then just spending it foolishly.

Generally though, starting companies is NOT cool because they usually sell out any individual sense of spirit and purpose for the almighty buck fairly quickly.

Let's see him start companies which don't, for instance, run Windows or make

Jó szerencse pölö means ...

[nuzak]

"My hovercraft is full of eels"?

He'll have a new job up there

[cyclone96]

I work for NASA supporting the Space Station, and the irony of a Microsoft guy going up is pretty amusing.

The crew has a network of laptops running WinXP to do non-critical support tasks, chiefly email. While they work pretty well and generally can be maintained from Houston, the crew does spend a fair amount of time keeping them working. You can often hear tales of woe with the network interspersed with operational discussions on the space to ground audio.

For example, this is from the September 8, 2006 ISS status report posted at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=21998 [spaceref.com]

Jeff's attempts yesterday to set up an Outlook email account for Soyuz taxi crewmember Anousheh Ansari were not successful. This is a repeat of a problem seen with previous email accounts for Soyuz taxi crewmembers. Plans are in work to give the SFP (Space Flight Participant) a regular ISS email account.

I have the feeling that he is going to be jokingly dubbed the "new on-site IT support" by the commander as soon as he arrives.

Re:

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Off-topic, but joking aside, I'm sorry to hear that much time is spent on such tasks. If I paid $20M to get to space, I wouldn't want to spend 30 minutes futzing with an email account; time is money, and not at an inexpensive rate.

Why don't they use simpler systems that are less prone to issues than WinXP?

Although space is a pretty complicated affair, and I can understand having complicated systems to support it, an email configuration doesn't seem to be something is interacts enough with the limitations

Re:

[The Bungi]

Wow, my organization keeps a couple of thousand people happily using Exchange and Outlook 24/7/365, and they're not even rocket scientists. Maybe NASA could use some of our expertise? I'm sure some of the junior sysadmins here would love to help in their free time.

Uh, whaa?

[Anubis350]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt every Astronaut a nerd? How about any number of non-astro-scientists that I'm sure have been in space doing research?

Re:

[NeuroManson]

Way back when, if memory serves, there wasn't really any such thing as "nerds". Even if their preferred levels of study were scientific, back in the 40s/50s, most of those who were in academics were either (a) fighting the evil Nazi scientists, or (b) fighting the evil Communist scientists.

Beyond that, most astronauts were (at least according to "The Right Stuff", if not local lore, if not bios) in it, in those days, to be "The First". It didn't matter how low. First astronaut to orbit the Earth twice? Woo

Why Only the Rich and Uninspired?

[Miracle Jones]

Can we take up a collection to send a civilian into space with the ability to translate the experience into art? Somebody like Spider Robinson, or Tom Wolfe, perhaps? How long will the most liminal and mind-expanding human experience only be the province of those who lack the passion and subtlety to appreciate it, and who cannot, therefore, sublimate it for the rest of us? "Space. Wow. It was so damn empty. Man, you can see the whole earth! Even the dark bits, without people!" If we send somebody up

Leading to the Inevidable

[Dark Leaper]

Don't trust him, he's from "The Company"! Ain't that right Bishop?

That's lpszCharles lpszSimonyi,

[melted]

That's lpszCharles lpszSimonyi, thank you very much.

Harrison Schmitt

[RichardtheSmith]

This guy was really the first nerd in space...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Schmitt [wikipedia.org]

He was a geologist from Cal Tech who got to check out lunar geology
up close up close and personal on the Apollo 17 mission.

That's *very* nerdy, in a *very* cool kind of way. :)

could you guys fix the hungarian text in the post?

[darkeye]

"Jó szerencse pölö Charles!" just doesn't make any sense. If you wanted to right: "Good luck, Charles!", you would say: "Jó szerencsét, Charles!". BTW, you'd rather say: "Jó szerencsét, Károly!" - as the name Charles is Károly in Hungarian. And yes, his original name is Simonyi Károly, written in this order as per the Hungarian custom of naming.

I just wonder how the "pölö" part came into the sentence - as it's not a word in our language. The closest I can think of that it's the pronounciation of the abbreviation "pl.", which is short for "például" - meaning: "for example". I guess you guys asked someone: "How do I say Good Luck in Hungarian?", and the answer might have been: "Jó szerencse, pl." meaning: "For example: Jó szerencsét".

Ákos
a native Hungarian (speaker)

Just admit it Slashdotters...

[DiamondGeezer]

...you're all completely jealous.

So am I.

First nerd in space

[elgatozorbas]

Because obviously all those engineers and scientists usually in orbit aren't nerds...

Well, I'm not jealous

[gilgongo]

I read a biography of Charles Simonyi once. What struck me was that he must be the luckiest man alive after Ringo Starr. As far as I could tell, he was simply in the right place, at the right time, to give us the WORST word processor or all time - and make billions in the process.

I know that Hungarian notation [wikipedia.org] is often cited as one of his great achievements, but really - what has this guy ever actually positively contributed to anything other than a superlative example to coat-tailing?

the record

[oohshiny]

The article makes it sound like "nerds" should feel proud of this. I, for one, don't.

Simonyi condemned us to Hungarian notation and decades of writing code in C, C++, and COM, and is significantly responsible for the bloatware that is Microsoft Office. The negative impact of this, both for Microsoft products, and outside, has been enormous. Simonyi's most important contribution was his creation of the first WYSIWYG editor, while he was at Xerox.

Fortunately, after several decades of this, Microsoft is fin

Re:

[gilgongo]

His biography was included in a collection of influential computing people in some book I've forgotten the name of now. Compared to people like Linus Torvalds, Bill Gates, Richard Stallman and others, Simonyi came across as basically a chancer who knew enough about programming to blag his way through life, but not much more. The Xerox WYSIWYG editor was not (even by his own admission) an innovation. Lots of people had theorised such an editor - he was simply in the right place with the right resources to co

The first nerd tourist was Greg Olsen

[fbrehm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Olsen [wikipedia.org]

He worked at RCA Laboratories the same time I did. I can testify that he is, indeed, a nerd.

Fred

Launch him with Windows driven systems

[cheros]

I mean, that's the least MS should do for their guy. After all, if he's the 'first' nerd (totally untrue if you know a little bit about Mark Shuttleworth :-) and he's been so 'influential' (right time at the right place) than MS ought to give him the best help possible and send him up controlled by a bunch of Vista systems that are naturally edge-to-edge DRM-ed to make sure he's 100% "safe".

Buuuugs in spaaace. Oh sorry, that should be 'piiigs' :-).

first retard in space?

[peter303]

Kind of retarded for not notiing their have been 40 PhDs in space already as astronauts or shuttle specialists. Plus three of the private astronauts made their fortunes in the computer industry.

Re:

[Scarletdown]

I wonder what all the other Astronauts have been? Jocks?

Fighter jocks, at least (dunno about the recent crop of astronauts, but our first ones were fighter pilots, aka fighter jocks.)

Re:

[scd]

Almost all current astronauts are engineers and/or scientists, with PhD's and such.

Re:

[AJWM]

but our first ones were fighter pilots, aka fighter jocks.

Actually they were aerospace engineers and test pilots. They may have also been fighter jocks (although some flew other types of aircraft) since that's about the only way to rack up time on high performance jets, but at the time of astronaut selection they were working as test pilots. Most (all?) of them had degrees in aerospace engineering. (Armstrong was accepted to MIT, but ended up attending a different college).

I wouldn't call them nerds, tho

Re:

[S3D]

Actually they were aerospace engineers and test pilots.

First Russian cosmonauts were fighter pilots.

Re:Sooo.....

[hachete]

Read the Right Stuff. The scientists running the first missions wanted "Spam in a Can" - monkeys would have done them, and probably would have performed better than the astronauts. However, lowering the entry qualifications *so* low meant obvious problems in recruitment, with too many people flying. So the "obvious" pick was amongst fighter pilots and aerospace test pilots. the latter soon realised they were overly qualified (as both pilots and geeks) to run a mercury or an apollo rig but that got out-balanced by the inherent dangers of the missions. The tests they took to become astronauts could easily have been done by, oh, weight-lifters, long-distance runners etc. However, there's not much glory attached to sending runners into space ...

The Soviets went through a similar process.

The shuttle changes things again, but I would dispute that you need to be a fighter-jock to control it. A bomber or transport or even an airline pilot would be equally, if not better adapted, to deal with the shuttle controls. If they had kept the X15 program going, then that truly was a fighter-jocks dream aircraft and we'd've had returnable aircraft flying today rather than the flying brick of a shuttle.

Re:First?!

[mastropiero]

Exactly, he is as much the first nerd in space as IE7 is the first tabbed browser....

Re:

[Dave Emami]

Nah, Ms. Ansari could probably get a date, so she doesn't count.

Re:He invented Hungarian Notation

[yo_tuco]

"Why it's a good idea to embed the type of a variable in its name has forever been lost on me."

szBeats szMe. szBut szMaybe szHis usHungarian szRoots szHad szSomething szTo szDo szWith szIt?

Re:

[QuantumG]

Nah, he's just like every other Microsoft employee, totally ignorant of things that ain't happening inside Microsoft. It's a sheltered culture.

Re:

[mrjb]

I relate to your financial trouble. Sorry to burst your bubble but one of the reasons that he can afford the 20 million, is that he *doesn't* help random geeks out of debt. If he would, that would quickly drown his reserves now wouldn't it?

You'd have a better chance of getting out of debt by asking for a raise or increasing your pay by changing jobs. If you're any good, a 500 raise should be doable. If you have a partner (of course, this is slashdot), a 250 raise for each of you should be even easier to arr