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53-420: George Parker Bidder (13 June 1806 – 20 September 1878) was an English engineer and calculating prodigy . Born in the town of Moretonhampstead , Devon, England, he displayed a natural skill at calculation from an early age. In childhood, his father, William Bidder, a stonemason , exhibited him as a "calculating boy", first in local fairs up to the age of six, and later around the country. In this way his talent

106-838: A marine biologist and president of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1945. He was placed second in a book on The Great Mental Calculators , just behind Jacques Inaudi . In late 2020, a statue was erected in the centre of Moretonhampstead to commemorate Bidder. Calculating prodigy In 2005, a group of researchers led by Michael W. O'Boyle, an American psychologist previously working in Australia and now at Texas Tech University , has used MRI scanning of blood flow during mental operation in computational prodigies. These math prodigies have shown increases in blood flow to parts of

159-424: A 9-year-old autistic savant with prodigious math abilities cracks a top secret government code. In the 2006 film Stranger than Fiction , the main character, Harold Crick, is able to perform rapid arithmetic at the request of his co-workers. In the 2007 sitcom The Big Bang Theory , the main character, Sheldon Cooper , calculates numbers and solutions in his head for his theoretical physics research. In

212-570: A portion of the London & Birmingham and on the Blackwall lines, while three years later he advised that it should be adopted to facilitate the working of the single line between Norwich and Yarmouth . He was also one of the founders of the Electric Telegraph Company , which enabled the public generally to enjoy the benefits of telegraphic communication. In hydraulic engineering , he was

265-724: A respectable position in China. In the Archaic epoch of the Philippines , hydraulic engineering also developed specially in the Island of Luzon , the Ifugaos of the mountainous region of the Cordilleras built irrigations, dams and hydraulic works and the famous Banaue Rice Terraces as a way for assisting in growing crops around 1000 BC. These Rice Terraces are 2,000-year-old terraces that were carved into

318-574: A technical success, but not at that time to be commercially viable. Bidder died at his residence of Ravensbury Dartmouth, Devon , aged 72, on 20 September 1878 and was buried at Stoke Fleming in St Peters church. His sister Ann (died 1844) was married to painter Jacob Thompson . His son, George Parker Bidder Jr. (1836–1896), who inherited much of his father's calculating power, was a successful parliamentary counsel and an authority on cryptography . His grandson, also named George Parker Bidder , became

371-625: A technique known as hushing , and applied the methods to other ores such as those of tin and lead . In the 15th century, the Somali Ajuran Empire was the only hydraulic empire in Africa. As a hydraulic empire, the Ajuran State monopolized the water resources of the Jubba and Shebelle Rivers . Through hydraulic engineering, it also constructed many of the limestone wells and cisterns of

424-447: A thin, viscosity-dominated boundary layer near solid surfaces, and an effectively inviscid outer zone away from the boundaries. This concept explained many former paradoxes and enabled subsequent engineers to analyze far more complex flows. However, we still have no complete theory for the nature of turbulence, and so modern fluid mechanics continues to be combination of experimental results and theory. The modern hydraulic engineer uses

477-581: Is a first-year elementary school student), she does large-number multiplication problems in her head almost instantly. In the 1988 movie Rain Man , Raymond Babbitt, who has savant syndrome , can mentally calculate large numbers, amongst other abilities. Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby is a calculating prodigy in Robert A. Heinlein 's Sci-Fi story Methuselah's Children . In the USA Network legal drama Suits ,

530-407: Is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids , principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the movement of the fluids. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the design of bridges , dams , channels , canals , and levees , and to both sanitary and environmental engineering . Hydraulic engineering

583-979: Is considered the most challenging and respected international competition that attempts to find the world's best mental calculator, and also the best at specific types of mental calculation, such as addition, multiplication, square root or calendar reckoning. The Mental Calculation World Cup is arranged every two years. The last edition was organized in September 2024 and won by Aaryan Nitin Shukla , who successfully defended his title to become two time World Champion. The Mind Sports Olympiad has staged annual world championships since 1998. The Mind Sports Organisation recognizes six grandmasters of mental calculation: Robert Fountain (1999), George Lane (2001), Gert Mittring (2005), Chris Bryant (2017), Wenzel Grüß (2019), and Kaloyan Geshev (2022), and one international master, Andy Robertshaw (2008). In 2021, Aaryan Nitin Shukla became

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636-442: Is incompressible and has no viscosity. Real fluid has viscosity. Ideal fluid is only an imaginary fluid as all fluids that exist have some viscosity. A viscous fluid will deform continuously under a shear force by the pascles law, whereas an ideal fluid does not deform. The various effects of disturbance on a viscous flow are a stable, transition and unstable. For an ideal fluid, Bernoulli's equation holds along streamlines. As

689-409: Is the application of the principles of fluid mechanics to problems dealing with the collection, storage, control, transport, regulation, measurement, and use of water. Before beginning a hydraulic engineering project, one must figure out how much water is involved. The hydraulic engineer is concerned with the transport of sediment by the river, the interaction of the water with its alluvial boundary, and

742-625: Is true for many of our world's largest cities. In much the same way, the central valley of California could not have become such an important agricultural region without effective water management and distribution for irrigation. In a somewhat parallel way to what happened in California, the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) brought work and prosperity to the South by building dams to generate cheap electricity and control flooding in

795-528: The Blackwall railway , and it was he who designed the peculiar method of disconnecting a carriage at each station while the rest of the train went on without stopping, which was employed in the early days of that line when it was worked by means of a cable. Another series of railways with which he had much to do were those in the eastern counties which afterwards became the Great Eastern system. He also advised on

848-503: The London & Birmingham Railway , and in the succeeding year or two he began to assist George Stephenson in his parliamentary work, which at that time included schemes for railways between London and Brighton and between Manchester and Rugby via the Potteries . In this way he was introduced to engineering and parliamentary practice at a period of great activity which saw the establishment of

901-454: The brain responsible for mathematical operations during a mental rotation task that are greater than the typical increases. Mental calculators were in great demand in research centers such as CERN before the advent of modern electronic calculators and computers. See, for instance, Steven B. Smith's 1983 book The Great Mental Calculators , or the 2016 book Hidden Figures and the film adapted from it . The Mental Calculation World Cup

954-463: The pressure head p ρ g = y {\displaystyle {\frac {p}{\rho g}}=y} . Four basic devices for pressure measurement are a piezometer , manometer , differential manometer, Bourdon gauge , as well as an inclined manometer. As Prasuhn states: The main difference between an ideal fluid and a real fluid is that for ideal flow p 1 = p 2 and for real flow p 1 > p 2 . Ideal fluid

1007-449: The windmill from Islamic Afghanistan . Other original Islamic developments included the saqiya with a flywheel effect from Islamic Spain, the reciprocating suction pump and crankshaft - connecting rod mechanism from Iraq , and the geared and hydropowered water supply system from Syria . In many respects, the fundamentals of hydraulic engineering have not changed since ancient times. Liquids are still moved for

1060-572: The ' water management technological complex ' which was central to the Islamic Green Revolution . The various components of this 'toolkit' were developed in different parts of the Afro-Eurasian landmass, both within and beyond the Islamic world. However, it was in the medieval Islamic lands where the technological complex was assembled and standardized, and subsequently diffused to the rest of

1113-470: The 17th and 18th centuries found the inviscid flow solutions unsuitable, and by experimentation they developed empirical equations, thus establishing the science of hydraulics. Late in the 19th century, the importance of dimensionless numbers and their relationship to turbulence was recognized, and dimensional analysis was born. In 1904 Ludwig Prandtl published a key paper, proposing that the flow fields of low-viscosity fluids be divided into two zones, namely

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1166-450: The 1997 Sci-Fi thriller Cube , one of the prisoners, Kazan, appears to be mentally disabled, but is revealed later in the film to be an autistic savant who is able to calculate prime factors in his head. In 1998 Darren Aronofsky 's film Pi , Maximillian Cohen is asked a few times by a young child with a calculator to do large multiplications and divisions in his head, which he promptly does, correctly. In 1998 film Mercury Rising ,

1219-484: The 2008 show Breaking Bad , the main character, Walter White , is shown to calculate most of the numbers to his deals, such as profit and production costs, purely within his head. In the 2009 Japanese animated film Summer Wars , the main character, mathematical genius Kenji Koiso, is able to mentally break purely mathematical encryption codes generated by the OZ virtual world's security system. He can also mentally calculate

1272-478: The 2012 film Safe , a female child math genius is kidnapped to be used by the Chinese Triad. In the 2014 TV series Scorpion , Sylvester Dodd, a gifted mathematician and statistician with an IQ of 175; he is described as a "human calculator". In the 2016 film The Accountant , Christian Wolff is a high-functioning autistic man who tracks insider financial deceptions for numerous criminal organizations. In

1325-398: The 2017 film Gifted , an intellectually gifted seven-year-old, Mary Adler, becomes the subject of a custody battle between her uncle and grandmother. In 2020, an eponymous film Shakuntala Devi on the life of Indian mathematician, writer, astrologer and mental calculator Shakuntala Devi . Hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering

1378-653: The Fox television show Malcolm in the Middle , Malcolm Wilkerson displays astounding feats of automatic mental calculation, which causes him to fear his family will see him as a "freak", and causes his brother to ask, "Is Malcolm a robot?". In the 1991 movie Little Man Tate , Fred Tate in the audience blurts out the answer during a mental calculation contest. In the 1990s NBC TV sitcom NewsRadio , reporter/producer Lisa Miller can mentally calculate products, quotients, and square roots effortlessly and almost instantly, on demand. In

1431-623: The Middle East and Africa . Controlling the movement and supply of water for growing food has been used for many thousands of years. One of the earliest hydraulic machines, the water clock was used in the early 2nd millennium BC. Other early examples of using gravity to move water include the Qanat system in ancient Persia and the very similar Turpan water system in ancient China as well as irrigation canals in Peru. In ancient China , hydraulic engineering

1484-467: The Old World. Under the rule of a single Islamic caliphate , different regional hydraulic technologies were assembled into "an identifiable water management technological complex that was to have a global impact." The various components of this complex included canals , dams , the qanat system from Persia, regional water-lifting devices such as the noria , shaduf and screwpump from Egypt , and

1537-619: The construction of the Belgian railways; with R. Stephenson he made the first railway in Norway , from Christiania to Eidsvold ; he was engineer-in-chief of the Danish railways, and he was largely concerned with railways in India , where he strongly and successfully opposed break of gauge on through routes. Though he sometimes spoke of himself as a mere "railway-engineer," he was in reality very much more; there

1590-519: The day of the week a person was born , based on their birthday. In another Fox television show, Fringe , in the third episode of the third season, Olivia and her fellow Fringe Division members encounter an individual with severe cognitive impairment who has been given experimental nootropics and as a result has become a mathematical genius. The individual is able to calculate hundreds of equations simultaneously, which he leverages to avoid being returned to his original state of cognitive impairment. In

1643-587: The designer of the Victoria Docks (London), being responsible not only for their construction, but also for what was regarded by some people at the time as the foolish idea of utilizing the Essex marshes for dock accommodation on a large scale. His advice was frequently sought by the government on points both of naval and military engineering. Bidder also investigated the practicality of steam trawlers in conjunction with Samuel Lake , also of Dartmouth, and proved to be

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1696-412: The engineering data that were sufficient to secure rejection of the scheme to which he was opposed. In consequence, there was scarcely an engineering proposal of any importance brought before Parliament in connexion with which his services were not secured by one party or the other. On the constructive side of his profession he was also busily occupied. In 1837 he was engaged with R. Stephenson in building

1749-428: The flow comes into contact with the plate, the layer of fluid actually "adheres" to a solid surface. There is then a considerable shearing action between the layer of fluid on the plate surface and the second layer of fluid. The second layer is therefore forced to decelerate (though it is not quite brought to rest), creating a shearing action with the third layer of fluid, and so on. As the fluid passes further along with

1802-523: The main character, Mike Ross, is asked to multiply considerably large numbers in his head to impress two girls, and subsequently does so. In Haruki Murakami 's novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World , a class of mental calculators known as Calcutecs perform cryptography in a sealed-off portion of their brains, the results of which they are unable to access from their normal waking consciousness. In

1855-435: The main features and principles that have since governed English railway construction. He has been praised as the best witness that ever entered a committee-room. He was quick to discover and take advantage of the weak points in an opponent's case, and his powers of mental calculation frequently stood him in good stead, as when, for example, an apparently casual glance at the plans of a railway enabled him to point out errors in

1908-534: The most part by gravity through systems of canals and aqueducts, though the supply reservoirs may now be filled using pumps. The need for water has steadily increased from ancient times and the role of the hydraulic engineer is a critical one in supplying it. For example, without the efforts of people like William Mulholland the Los Angeles area would not have been able to grow as it has because it simply does not have enough local water to support its population. The same

1961-473: The mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people . The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to as the " Eighth Wonder of the World ". It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 metres (5000 ft) above sea level. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above

2014-421: The novel, namely Piter De Vries and Thufir Hawat , are Mentats. Paul Atreides was originally trained as one without his knowledge. However, these Mentats do not specialize in mathematical calculations, but in total recall of many different kinds of data. For example, Thufir Hawat is able to recite various details of a mining operation, including the number of various pieces of equipment, the people to work them,

2067-689: The occurrence of scour and deposition. "The hydraulic engineer actually develops conceptual designs for the various features which interact with water such as spillways and outlet works for dams, culverts for highways, canals and related structures for irrigation projects, and cooling-water facilities for thermal power plants ." A few examples of the fundamental principles of hydraulic engineering include fluid mechanics , fluid flow, behavior of real fluids, hydrology , pipelines, open channel hydraulics, mechanics of sediment transport, physical modeling, hydraulic machines, and drainage hydraulics. Fundamentals of Hydraulic Engineering defines hydrostatics as

2120-443: The plate, the zone in which shearing action occurs tends to spread further outwards. This zone is known as the "boundary layer". The flow outside the boundary layer is free of shear and viscous-related forces so it is assumed to act as an ideal fluid. The intermolecular cohesive forces in a fluid are not great enough to hold fluid together. Hence a fluid will flow under the action of the slightest stress and flow will continue as long as

2173-503: The principles of fluid dynamics and fluid mechanics are widely utilized by other engineering disciplines such as mechanical, aeronautical and even traffic engineers. Related branches include hydrology and rheology while related applications include hydraulic modeling, flood mapping, catchment flood management plans, shoreline management plans, estuarine strategies, coastal protection, and flood alleviation. Earliest uses of hydraulic engineering were to irrigate crops and dates back to

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2226-434: The profits and costs involved, etc. In the novel he is never depicted as doing actual academic mathematical calculations. Mentats were valued for their capacity as humans to store data, because "thinking machines" are outlawed. In Roald Dahl 's novel Matilda , the lead character is portrayed having exceptional computational skills as she computes her father's profit without the need for paper computations. During class (she

2279-594: The region, making rivers navigable and generally modernizing life in the region. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) performed experiments, investigated and speculated on waves and jets, eddies and streamlining. Isaac Newton (1642–1727) by formulating the laws of motion and his law of viscosity, in addition to developing the calculus, paved the way for many great developments in fluid mechanics. Using Newton's laws of motion, numerous 18th-century mathematicians solved many frictionless (zero-viscosity) flow problems. However, most flows are dominated by viscous effects, so engineers of

2332-553: The state that are still operative and in use today. The rulers developed new systems for agriculture and taxation , which continued to be used in parts of the Horn of Africa as late as the 19th century. Further advances in hydraulic engineering occurred in the Muslim world between the 8th and 16th centuries, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age . Of particular importance was

2385-567: The stress is present. The flow inside the layer can be either vicious or turbulent, depending on Reynolds number. Common topics of design for hydraulic engineers include hydraulic structures such as dams , levees , water distribution networks including both domestic and fire water supply, distribution and automatic sprinkler systems, water collection networks, sewage collection networks, storm water management, sediment transport , and various other topics related to transportation engineering and geotechnical engineering . Equations developed from

2438-464: The study of fluids at rest. In a fluid at rest, there exists a force, known as pressure, that acts upon the fluid's surroundings. This pressure, measured in N/m , is not constant throughout the body of fluid. Pressure, p, in a given body of fluid, increases with an increase in depth. Where the upward force on a body acts on the base and can be found by the equation: where, Rearranging this equation gives you

2491-478: The terraces. It is said that if the steps were put end to end, it would encircle half the globe. Eupalinos of Megara was an ancient Greek engineer who built the Tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos in the 6th century BC, an important feat of both civil and hydraulic engineering. The civil engineering aspect of this tunnel was that it was dug from both ends which required the diggers to maintain an accurate path so that

2544-583: The two tunnels met and that the entire effort maintained a sufficient slope to allow the water to flow. Hydraulic engineering was highly developed in Europe under the aegis of the Roman Empire where it was especially applied to the construction and maintenance of aqueducts to supply water to and remove sewage from their cities. In addition to supplying the needs of their citizens they used hydraulic mining methods to prospect and extract alluvial gold deposits in

2597-752: The youngest champion ever at an age of just 11 years. Shakuntala Devi from India has been often mentioned on the Guinness World Records . Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash from India has been often mentioned on the Limca Book of Records for racing past the speed of a calculator in addition. Sri Lankan- Malaysian performer Yaashwin Sarawanan was the runner-up in 2019 Asia's Got Talent . In Frank Herbert 's novel Dune , specially trained mental calculators known as Mentats have replaced mechanical computers completely. Several important supporting characters in

2650-526: Was highly developed, and engineers constructed massive canals with levees and dams to channel the flow of water for irrigation, as well as locks to allow ships to pass through. Sunshu Ao is considered the first Chinese hydraulic engineer. Another important Hydraulic Engineer in China, Ximen Bao was credited of starting the practice of large scale canal irrigation during the Warring States period (481 BC–221 BC), even today hydraulic engineers remain

2703-496: Was indeed no branch of engineering in which he did not take an interest, as was shown by the assiduity with which for half a century he attended the weekly meetings of the Institution of Civil Engineers , of which he was elected president in 1860. He was "one of the first to recognize the value of the electric telegraph ." That invention was in its infancy when, in 1837, jointly with R. Stephenson, he recommended its introduction on

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2756-574: Was saved from this misfortune and enabled to attend classes at the University of Edinburgh , largely through the kindness of Sir Henry Jardine , to whom he subsequently showed his gratitude by founding a "Jardine Bursary" at the university. On leaving college in 1824, George received a post in the ordnance survey, but gradually drifted into engineering work. In 1834 Robert Stephenson , whose acquaintance he had made in Edinburgh , offered him an appointment on

2809-461: Was turned to profitable account, but his general education was in danger of being completely neglected. Still, many of those who saw him developed an interest in his education, a notable example being Sir John Herschel . His interest led him to arrange it so George could be sent to school in Camberwell . There he did not remain long, being removed by his father, who wished to exhibit him again, but he

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