The father-of-two, from east Hull, was part of a team performing a routine service on a large metal press used to make components for Hawk jets.

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Instead, Huibers and his team built the boat by welding together the metal hulls of 25 barges into a single frame, which was then covered with Scandinavian pine.

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To create the point-contact transistor, Shockley's team modified the cat's whisker by placing two fine metal wires close together on the surface of a germanium crystal, turning it from a diode into a triode.

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Analysts say that Rio's refusal to team up with BHP is indicative of its conviction that mineral and metal prices will stay high for years to come, fuelled by strong demand from emerging economies such as China and India.

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