Mar
6
The Utah Teapot
March 6, 2008 |
In 1975, pioneer University of Utah computer graphics researcher Martin Newell was trying to figure out how to get a computer to render 3D objects. He was looking for a familiar object that could appear reasonably realistic, and could be rotated and viewed from different angles. Sandra Newell (his wife) suggested modeling their tea service since they were sitting down to tea at the time. Dr. Newell took out his graph paper and a pencil, and sketched the entire tea service by eye. The “Utah Teapot” has since become the standard symbol for complex, three-dimensional computer graphics. Computer scientists throughout the world are familiar with the teapot and have worked it into their own projects as a nod to Newell’s pioneering work. The teapot has made an appearance in Pixar movies like Toy Story as well as an episode of The Simpsons. The actual teapot Newell used as his model is now in the Computer History Museum, located in Mountain View, California. Haven’t made it by there yet.
This was an interesting discovery (for me) that I’m sure many of you already knew about. Guess I’m kinda lo-tech.
Lots of good stuff happening with the shop and website. More to come soon! Hope you’re all well.
- James
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Yay for computer nerds!!!!
Some of the best ideas for innovation come from family. One of my favorite stories is why the number google is named google…
oops–I forgot the NUMBER is spelled differently from the search engine: “googol”
[…] 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 } These all related not so much to the iconic Arare teapot, but to that landmark Utah Teapot. Regardless of the attention and lack of attention his pot garnered, the distant relative of the […]