vilakins | Computers in SF quiz Results

Congratulations to all of you others who knew answers, and to astrogirl2 who got 7/10.

I'm surprised no one got #8 though. The name stuck for me because they named the computer that as Sigourney Weaver was doing the voice and that was the name of the computer on the Nostromo in Alien.

The questions

In one of the earliest fictional descriptions of a device analogous to a personal computer, in a 1946 short story by Murray Leinster, it was called a 'Logic'. What was its name?
Who programmed the Hal-9000?
Who designed a computer-like device called the Prime Radiant to store the psychohistorical equations determining the future development of humanity?
What was the name of the Liberator’s computer in Blake’s 7?
Which original series Star Trek episode featured an experimental computer designated M5?
What is the name of the magically powered and self-building computer housed at the Unseen University?
In which TV series was a biotech computer named TIM a major character?
What was the name of the ship computer of the Axiom in WALL-E?
ANGEL 1 and ANGEL 2, the Ancillary Guardians of Environment and Life, are the control computers of the starship Challenger in which radio series?
What is the name of the extraterrestrial computer installed in the attic of Sarah Jane Smith's home in The Sarah Jane Adventures?

The answers

Joe: first published in the March 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
Dr Chandra, from the film 2010.
Hari Seldon, in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.
Zen. There was also a portable AI with attitude called Orac. The computer on Scorpio was called Slave.
The Ultimate Computer, written by D C Fontana, episode #53, in season two.
Hex, created by Ponder Stibbons and some student Wizards in the High Energy Magic building, first appearing in the novel Soul Music.
The Tomorrow People which first ran between 1973 and 1979.
Mother, voiced by Sigourney Weaver.
Earthsearch, written by James Follett, and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between January and March 1981.
Mr Smith, at his core a Xylok, a member of a crystalline race which crashed to Earth as a meteorite some 60 million years ago.

Further to #5,

kernezelda pointed out that the computer voice was provided by Scotty's actor, James Doohan, and that M-5's creator, Dr Daystrom, was one of the few prominent African-American characters in the series.

The questions and answers (from a local SF mag) came from the Wiki entry on Computers in Fiction.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Indeed, something like Asimov’s "Prime Radiant" may have recently become a reality “here on Earth”: I have found a group that claims to have derived a system of seven psychohistorical equations, using a new mathematics that their founder, “Karl Seldon”, discovered, and that allegedly reconstruct humanity’s past on this planet, and that ‘pre-construct’ its future. See –

http://www.dialectics.org/dialectics/Welcome.html

http://www.dialectics.org/dialectics/Aoristoss_Blog/Entries/2012/5/19_The_F.E.D._Psychohistorical_Equations.html

– and which give the locations of their offices as “Stars’ End, NY” and “Terminious, CA.”

Regards,

Miguel

Computers in SF quiz Results

Asimov's Prime Radiant