Friday, February 19, 1999
Community Briefs
Gov. Gray Davis turns
attention to Y2K bug
Gov. Gray Davis, who has focused almost entirely on education in
his first two months in office, turned Wednesday to another
pressing problem. The state has only 317 days to solve the Y2K
computer bug.
Davis named his team of experts to deal with a problem that has
been predicted to cause everything from mild annoyance to mass
chaos by Jan. 1, 2000. He promised the state’s computers would be
fixed on time.
"I believe we’ll be prepared at that stroke of midnight," the
governor said at a Capitol news conference. "It will not be easy.
Not all of our mission-critical systems are up to speed."
Officials said the computer systems that provide the most
important services to Californians are about 75 percent fixed now.
The last estimate for the cost of fixing the computers was about
$500 million.
The problem is due to old computer programming that used only
two digits for each year to save space. That means 1999 was written
as 99 – and when 2000 arrives, some computers won’t know if it’s
1900 or 2000. Mistakes may result and some computers may shut down
completely.
State computer experts are rewriting computer programs and
replacing older computer systems to solve the problem, but some say
they cannot ensure that all Y2K related failures will be
eliminated.
Clinton recognizes UCLA doctor, inventor
Thursday, President Clinton awarded UCLA’s Michael Phelps,
inventor of the PET (positron emission tomography) scan, with the
Enrico Fermi Award, the government’s oldest science and technology
prize.
Maurice Goldhaber, a nuclear and particle physicist and the
first person to accurately measure the mass of the neutron, also
received the award.
The Enrico Fermi Award honors a lifetime of achievement in the
field of nuclear energy. Both Phelps and Goldhaber will receive a
gold medallion and $100,000 from Bill Richardson, U.S. Energy
Secretary, in April.
Phelps, 59, introduced the PET scan, a medical imaging technique
that allows doctors and scientists to watch human biological
processes, making human biology transparent. Now, the PET scan is
the standard for studying metabolism as well as a number of
afflictions. The first PET scanner was developed in 1973, now there
are more than 800 worldwide.
"It is a privilege to honor these scientists and their
pioneering research," said President Clinton. "Dr. Goldhaber’s work
has contributed significantly to our understanding of the way the
world works. Dr. Phelps made possible an innovative technology that
has improved medical research and health care."
Phelps is the third member of the UCLA School of Medicine
faculty to receive the Fermi Award.
The Fermi Award honors the memory of Enrico Fermi, leader of the
group of scientists who achieved the first self-sustained,
controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago in
1952.
Virtual reality forum to be held Saturday
Three computer graphic experts – Brian Lindow, John Toeppen and
Jim Baker – will provide a free presentation on Saturday revealing
the secrets behind creating virtual reality and 3-D
photography.
The presentation, "Virtual Reality and Stereo Vision Using
Computers," is part of a seven-week lecture series geared to middle
and high school students and provided by the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, which covers topics from the forefront of
scientific research.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.
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