Builder of the "differential analyzer"—an analog computer capable of solving complex equations and drawing curves—Nordsieck constructed the device in the 1950s out of $700-worth of war surplus materials. Clones subsequently became the first computers at the California Radiation Laboratory (later Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) and at Purdue University.
Standard Precision Navigator/Gimbaled Electrostatic gyro Aircraft Navigation Systems (SPN/GEANS) grew out of work Nordsieck did in the 1950s on a novel gyroscope design, the Electrostatically Suspended Gyroscope (ESG). In the ESG, the rotating mass is a spherical ball supported in a vacuum by an electrostatic field. The corporation that took up his work most actively was Honeywell of Minneapolis. Professional Instruments Company lapped super-precise spherical rotors for Honeywell's ESG.
With these highly-favored gyros, the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines could remain submerged for 30 days at a time, without requiring a star-based recalibration.
