> At 21:05 05/04/99 -0400, Max Eskin wrote:
>
> >I have heard of Airbuses crashing because the controls were poorly
> >designed. I've never heard of a 777 crashing. I've also never heard of any
> >medical machines failing, though this would tend to be underpublicized.
>
> The standard example is a certain brand of radio-therapy system (used to
> treat cancer) which would occasionally give a dose several thousand times
> higher than specified (this was usually fatal). I have more details at work
> if anyone really needs to know...
>
> Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au
> Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
> 1999
> La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
> Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
>
If anyone wants to know about this it was the Therac-25.
The Computer control was a PDP11 running RT11.
The problem was the design and implementation of the application and the
control radiation dose from the therapy machine.
There's a number of sites on the web and a book on the subject.
Bill
---
bpechter_at_shell.monmouth.com|pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org
Three things never anger: First, the one who runs your DEC,
The one who does Field Service and the one who signs your check.
Received on Tue Apr 06 1999 - 07:59:13 BST