Fourmilab is a sprawling digital lab maintained since the 1990s by John Walker, founder of Autodesk and co-author of AutoCAD. It’s one of the web’s oldest personal knowledge hubs — offering simulations, articles, tools, and books that cover astronomy, cryptography, probability, artificial intelligence, spaceflight, and philosophical speculation.
Key areas include:
– 🔭 real-time astronomical simulators like Your Sky, Earth & Moon Viewer, and orbital calculators
– 🔐 tools for encryption, random number generation, and fictional world building
– 📚 full e-books including The Hacker’s Diet and The Autodesk File
– 🧠 essays on technological singularity, digital autonomy, transhumanism, and future shock
What makes Fourmilab stand out is its authenticity and independence. The interface is plain HTML, devoid of modern bloat — no ads, no analytics, no tracking. This is the web as it once was: driven by curiosity and shared knowledge.
🔗 fourmilab.ch remains a living archive of one mind’s pursuit of understanding — eccentric, ambitious, and deeply rewarding for anyone who loves science, code, or ideas that defy trends.