What I read today that was interesting:
You’ve probably heard of EMI, the label that first signed the Beatles and then a slew of other big names. However, it turns out that music was just one of their minor experimental niches. EMI has been a major (almost monopolistic) contractor for the military-industrial complex of Great Britain since 1937, involved in the development and manufacturing of detonators and detonation chains for all categories of munitions (shells, mines, aerial bombs, etc.), safety and initiation mechanisms for missile weapons, and other military-intended electrical and electromechanical devices, as well as radar equipment. And this was their main business. Music was just for variety.
Interestingly, thanks to the Beatles — part of the proceeds from sales went to an experimental project by Godfrey Hounsfield, the project manager — the world’s first computerized tomograph was developed, initially called the EMI scanner.
By the way, in the USA, the counterpart to EMI was General Electric, which most people know for its light bulbs. Yes, the company founded by Thomas Edison. For example, they invented the first jet engine and the first X-ray machine, and the first MRI (although in the MRI case, the British made their own version simultaneously). For example, their engines are used in the Patriot air defense system, and they have an entire series of ground-to-air missile systems developed from scratch, tracked vehicles, etc.
Interestingly about MRI – the word “nuclear” was removed from the definition of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging after the Chernobyl accident to avoid creating misinterpretations.
