I am interested in how

I am interested in how computers are used to extend our senses, such that algorithms effectively become eyes, seeing a picture that would not otherwise exist in the streams of ones and zeros returning from, say, an orbiter around Mars. So I was intrigued to hear that Mt. Everest was actually discovered by a computer. It was discovered (in the sense of being the tallest mountain in the world) in 1852, and “computer” is the title applied to a person in Dehra Dun, India who was given the task of grinding through the math associated with the Grand Trigonometrical Survey of India. Determining the tallest mountain means measuring them all against the same yardstick set against the same baseline. This is clearly a complex undertaking, so it perhaps comes as no surprise that Everest was officially observed in 1847, but it took five years to “see” that it was the tallest mountain in the survey (and by extension, the world). Here’s a nice summary with some good pictures: Peak XV. And here’s an oddball piece (written from the mountain’s point of view) from some sort of Nepal tourist office: An Autobiography of Sagarmatha’s Height.