Atari at the Science Fair: Mark Knutsen, Star
Cluster
This is the third in a series of interviews called "Atari at
the Science Fair" where I talk with people who used Atari 8-bit
computers to create projects and enter them in science fairs.
Today's interview is with Mark Knutsen, who wrote a star cluster
simulation in the Forth programming language for his high school
science fair. I found this blurb in the July 1986 edition of the
Jersey Atari Computer Group newsletter:
"June meeting highlights ... Mark Knutsen showed us his Star
Cluster program in Forth that won a science fair prize for him.
Mark’s program demonstrates the interaction of four stars in two
planes. Mark also discussed Forth in general."
This interview took place on August 21, 2021. If you'd like to see
our talking heads — and the visuals of his program running — a
video version of this interview is available at YouTube and
Internet Archive. Mark has shared his program and the source code:
those links are in the show notes.