Horace Heffner and improved method of using a thermal amplifier to
produce a random sequence of numbers. Amplifies have been used for
this purpose for a long time I believe. I saw a reference to one in
the 1950s. Anyway, Heffner wrote:
In other words, both the clock timer and the measured interval must
be random and independent. In the case where the time interval
between radioactive disintegration events is used, the timer
flip-flop state needs to be driven by a nonuniform clock,
say by filtered noise from a high gain amplifier.
If you have a method of detecting radioactive disintegration, why
would you use the thermal amplifier technique in the first place?
Also, wouldn't the radioactive technique be perfectly random?
I suppose that nowadays with cheap americium smoke detectors
available, it would not be difficult or dangerous to make a
radioactive disintegration random number generator.
- Jed
