Summer 1963

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www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com IN THIS ISSUE .. .

THE BIRTH OF A NEW LINE 2 Clairvoyance and practical judgment are necessary in planning and designing home instru- Summer 1963 ments to meet the requirements of electronic developments and changing consumer tastes. Vol. 22 / No. 3 WEATHER WATCHERS 6 Reliable TIROS "Eyes in the Sky" add new dimension to scientific weather forecasting.

INTERCONTINENTAL TYPESETTING VIA SPACE 9 A high -speed computer and a communications satellite make possible the transmission intercontinentally of justified news copy.

THE SCIENTIST THEORETICIAN 12 The man paid to create theory is increasingly more important to American business.

STUDENTS AND SCIENCE 16 A pictorial report on a day -long field trip concluding the first year of the David Sarnoff Industry- Science Teaching Program pilot project.

REPERTORY THEATER COMES TO TV 16 A new television show is helping to revitalize a 2,500 -year -old theater tradition. THE FROG'S EYE n A significant and unusual device electronically simulates the amazing information - processing functions of a real frog's eye.

INDUSTRY'S PURSUIT OF CLEANLINESS 22 The Space Age demands accuracies up to 50/1,000,000 of an inch. One speck of dust can cause failure. The "White Room" is industry's answer to this problem.

MODERN "PATRONAGE ": FUSION OF ART AND INDUSTRY 26 Industry support for talented young artists is reminiscent of the patronage of bygone years.

ELECTRONIC POETRY 30 A computer shows its versatility by composing verse at the rate of 150 poems a minute.

ELECTRONICALLY SPEAKING 32 News of current developments briefly told.

Published quarterly by Editor RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA JULES KOSLOW 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N.Y. Associate Editor FREDERICK W. ROLOFF DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board ELMER W. ENGSTROM, President ©1963, Radio Corporation of America -all FRANK M. FOLSOM, Chairman, Executive Committee rights reserved. Any part may be reproduced if credit is given. Printed in U.S.A. When re- JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary questing a change of address, include the code letters and number appearing with stenciled ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer address.

4 Dr. Murray A. Lampert, at COVER:Typesetting by com- the David Sarnoff Research puter. Shown are three of the Center, Princeton, N. J., re- main elements -the control flects on a theoretical problem panel of the RCA 301 com- concerning the electronic prop- puter console, the punched erties of insulators. The story paper tape utilized by the of the vital role of the scientist computer, and assembled lino- theoretician in American busi- type matrices and spacebands. ness starts on page 12. The story of this important forward step in printing, as well as in transmitting copy intercontinentally via satellite, begins on page 9.

www.americanradiohistory.com The Birth of a New Line by David Lachenbruch

Design cycle of "Sweet 16" portable TV set: sketches, proto- types, and finished product.

www.americanradiohistory.com A marriage of clairvoyance and practical judgment is necessary in the planning and design of home instruments to meet the requirements of new electronic developments and changing consumer tastes.

Tubes and transistors ... resistors and circuit each proceeding under its own five -year plan. Un- boards ... style and taste ... advance planning ... der the direction of David E. Daly, Manager of and a little clairvoyance. These are some of the Advance Product Planning for RCA Sales Cor- basic components of a modern line of television, poration in Indianapolis, each year's anticipated radios, phonographs, and tape recorders. product line is sketched out in broad strokes as Consumer electronic instruments must be many early as five years ahead of time. things to many people. In addition to a high level Basic research for the product begins even be- of reliable performance and a wide selection of fore the five -year cycle, much of it at the Advanced models, the public must be offered cabinets every Development Center of RCA's David Sarnoff Re- bit as attractive as the decorator pieces designed search Center in Princeton. Occasionally, however, and built by America's leading furniture artisans. the Research Center is asked to work on specific Consider the new 1964 RCA Victor lines. There applied research products by the planning opera- are 21 basic color TV models, 27 black- and -white tion in Indianapolis. One of the most recent of sets, 28 Victrola phonographs, 26 radios, four cart- these to be translated into a consumer product was ridge tape recorders - carefully designed and co- the new FM stereo circuit used for the first time ordinated to have something to appeal to everyone. in FM -AM tuners of RCA Victor's 1964 lines. These lines didn't just happen. They're the end In planning any product, there comes a time result of a planning cycle that began as long ago to say "this is it." Events leading directly to this as 1959 in one of the most intensive product plan- point occur during the final 18 months before in- ing operations in American industry. troduction date, as individual models within the "We already have quite a good idea of what line shape up in an intensive final planning cycle. our lines will be like five years from now," says At this time, a "Product Planning Committee" Bryce S. (Buz) Durant, Vice President, Product takes over, working under a master plan, with Planning and Development, RCA Sales Corpora- deadlines for each step in the process of transform- tion. "In television, this includes probable set sizes, ing a gleam in the advance-planners' eye into actual type of product, and performance level, based on production -model hardware. both electronic advances and anticipated market When this I8 -month cycle begins, "we're not requirements. In the case of highly tooled items working from a standing start," says Durant. "We such as portables, we even know what they'll prob- have at least a walking start. We have had a com- ably look like." plete engineering study. Our Product Planning In a rapidly changing technology such as elec- Committee knows it has something that the en- tronics, planning of this type is all the more diffi- gineering department can design, the factory can cult, and the planning cycle must be flexible build, the materials people can support, and that enough to allow for late changes based on recent marketing thinks is salable. We now have a firm advances in the art. plan in detail. And we can change the plan as we As far as next year's lines are concerned - those go along." which will be introduced in May, 1964 - they have The Product Planning Committee isn't a so- been completely laid out, and prototype produc- ciety of high -dome dreamers. Just about every de- tion of some models is under way. Lines for 1965, partment of RCA Sales Corporation cooperates to 1966, 1967, and 1968 are in various planning stages, accomplish the intricate job of making the pieces

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 7963 3

www.americanradiohistory.com TIROS "WHEEL" IN POLAR ORBIT -An artist's conception of how TIROS would operate in a rotating configuration, with two cameras on opposite sides alternating in sending pictures to earth.

TIROS IV -Large vortex of a typhoon TIROS VI -Ice reconnaissance, showing TIROS III -The vortex of Hurricane Anna, near New Zealand. the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and the St. heading for Central America July 22, 1961, Lawrence River. Prince Edward Island is northwest of Venezuela. Lake Maracaibo is completely surrounded by sea ice. visible at bottom of picture, center. www.americanradiohistory.com Weather Watchers

Reliable TIROS "Eyes in the Sky" add new dimension to scientific weather forecasting.

Each year, from mid -June to early October, there spacecraft. The latest launching, TIROS VII, took is a period of watchful waiting along the Atlantic place from Cape Canaveral June 19, adding its and Gulf coasts. It is the hurricane season, when weather eyes to TIROS VI, which has been op- great tropical storms from the South Atlantic or erating since September 18, 1962. Caribbean spawning grounds lash the seas and All the TIROS satellites are designed and built inflict enormous damage on inhabited coastal areas. by the Astro- Electronics Division of the Radio For the past three years, however, there has Corporation of America, under contract to NASA. been unprecedented advance warning of these They are under operational control of the God- storms from an extraordinary series of "TV Weather dard Space Flight Center. Eyes" in space. They are the TIROS satellites, In 1962, every major hurricane or typhoon so- called because they combine television and infra- throughout the world was sighted and tracked by red observation from space. Whirling around the one or more TIROS satellites. However, hurricane earth at altitudes of approximately 400 miles, their watching is only a small part of TIROS weather TV cameras sight the telltale pinwheel cloud for- observation. TIROS satellites have played a major mations of new tropical storms and then track role in the U.S. space program, keeping a watchful them day -by -day as they move across the earth. eye for Project Mercury launches and recoveries Since April 1, 1960, seven TIROS satellites have as well as for support of Ranger, Mariner, and been launched by the National Aeronautics and other space probes. Space Administration. All seven have operated Many special missions have been carried out successfully -a record unparalleled in unmanned by TIROS, such as ice surveys in the Gulf of St.

TIROS II -Ice swirling in the St. Lawrence TIROS IV -A foggy day in London town. TIROS VI- Northeast coast of the United River. This TIROS operated 376 days and Clouds completely outline England, Wales, States and Quebec Province. Snow rims transmitted 37,000 TV pictures. and Scotland, while Ireland basks in the Lake Ontario. Visible are two Finger Lakes sun. Northern France is partially cloudy. and Long Island. www.americanradiohistory.com TIROS III -A sunny day in the Near East. TIROS III -A clear day over Italy, Sicily, TIROS V -A classic picture of a large vor- Visible are Libya, the Nile River and its and Greece. This satellite operated 230 tex off Greenland, taken Feb. 16, 1963. The delta, Suez, the Red Sea, Israel, Arabia, days, and transmitted 36,000 TV pictures. photo covers some 500,000 square miles. and the Mediterranean.

Lawrence, photographing of ice packs, and anal- as a result of TIROS infrared and television reports. ysis of cloud coverings and jet streams. Based on Seven additional TIROS satellites have been TIROS data, for example, a forecast was made of ordered by NASA, of which two are to be used the break of a 45 -day heat wave in Australia in 1961. operationally by the Weather Bureau, three for The Weather Bureau uses TIROS data in pre- research and development of new and advanced paring nephanalyses (analyses of cloud cover), equipment, and two for backup. which are distributed daily to 45 countries via an A study contract was awarded to RCA in international facsimile network. All international May, 1963, for development of a wheel- configured flights out of New York's Idlewild Airport rou- TIROS. This, in effect, would turn the satellite tinely are given the latest nephanalysis based on on its side and have it roll endlessly around its orbit TIROS photographs before takeoff, indicating in the sky, snapping pictures every three minutes wind, cloud, and possible storm conditions the in the sunlit portion of the orbit. Cameras would pilots may expect to encounter. be positioned opposite one another in the edge of TIROS VI detected a sandstorm in Saudi the hatbox -shaped satellite, instead of looking Arabia. Meteorologists of the Weather Bureau downward through the base, as at present. Existing believe it may be possible to identify locust swarms TIROS satellites can take pictures only about 25 moving across Africa and to warn countries in their per cent of the orbital time, since the cameras do path. Measurement of snow conditions in moun- not always face the earth. tain areas and forecast of eventual runoff of melt- Pictures accompanying this article illustrate the ing snow to the lowlands also may become possible wide range of information sent back by TIROS.

7, 114-3

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I 0-30 6 2 30-60 7 3 60 - 90 8 4 90-120 9 WEATHER MAPS like this are prepared daily from cloud cover pictures received from TIROS satellites. Each international flight leaving New York's Idlewild Airport receives a TIROS map for route guidance. www.americanradiohistory.com Intercontinental Typesetting Via Space by Thomas I. Bradshaw

A high -speed computer and a communications satellite make possible the transmission intercontinentally of justified news copy.

For more than 500 years, since movable type first was transmitted by conventional teleprinter circuits was invented by Johann Gutenberg in the middle to Camden, N.J., where it was delivered to an RCA of the 15th century, typesetting has required hu- 301 computer. The computer instantly counted man brains and human hands to transform bits of the words and spaced them, hyphenating where metal or wood into printed words. necessary to achieve exact column width. The RCA Even the development of mechanical linecast- 301 then flashed instructions via a submarine cable ing machines, in 1878, did not eliminate this used by RCA Communications to keyboardless In- fundamental ingredient. The machine could pro- tertype linecasters at the Manchester Guardian, the duce a line of cast -metal type only after the letters, Glasgow Herald, and the Edinburgh Scotsman. Ar- punctuation marks, and spaces had been assembled rangements had been made to send the signals also by a human operator, and "justified" to fit a pre- by Relay I satellite, but last -minute failure of the determined column width. tracking antenna of the British ground station in Not even the refinement of long- distance tele- Cornwall made this impossible. typesetting could dispense with the human element. However, Relay I was used with complete suc- An operator still had to "punch" paper tape, giving cess to transmit news copy from the Rio de Janeiro instructions for word- spacing, hyphenation, and bureau of United Press International to Camden, column width, before the signals could be sent by where the RCA 301 processed the copy and sent it leased wires to subscribing newspapers. onward to Chicago. There, it was fed into UPI's On June 10, 1963, however, the Radio Cor- national teletypesetter circuits, serving hundreds of poration of America made printing history by dem- American newspapers. In a parallel experiment, onstrating for the first time that an electronic the Associated Press sent news copy by cable from computer located in one continent could give in- London to New York and Chicago, via the RCA structions to automatic linecasting machines in 301 at Camden. another continent, and thus cause type to be set On June 14, RCA and the National Aeronautics without any human activity except preparing the and Space Administration carried out a supple- original news copy. mentary experiment, sending computerized news The demonstration was carried out from copy to the newspapers in Great Britain via the Chicago, Ill., in connection with the 35th annual Relay I satellite. Production Management Conference of the Ameri- The demonstrations marked the debut of can Newspaper Publishers Association. RCA's Transmission and Information Exchange News copy originating at the ANPA convention System (TIES), a multipurpose method of linking

ELECTRONIC AGE Sumner 1063 9

www.americanradiohistory.com RELAY I

0 DE JANEIRO CHICAGO RCA 3

Diagram above depicts how news copy was sent from United (Relay model in foreground), tape is prepared for use in States to Great Britain by Relay satellite. Below at left linecasting machine (below, right).

www.americanradiohistory.com computers, regardless of intervening distance, and graph circuits for data communications. feeding data directly into the systems from remote A second unit in the RCA TIES "package" is locations. the Data Exchange Control, which permits RCA The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- 301 processors at the same location to communicate tration and the Harris -Intertype Corporation co- with one another on a memory -to- memory basis at operated in the tri- continent experiments, along a maximum rate of 285,000 data characters a sec- with United Press International and the Associated ond. This represents the high -speed transfer of Press. nearly 2,500,000 words an hour. The Relay I satellite, which was designed and A Communications Control is designed for built for NASA by RCA, has the capacity to accept memory -to- memory data transfer between separated and retransmit the entire news content of a stand- computers via single voice grade circuit at the rate ard newspaper in five minutes if all its channels of 300 characters per second. were to be utilized. In the RCA 301 demonstration, These three fully transistorized scanning and however, only limited capacity was required. control devices are housed in the RCA 301 corn- The RCA 301 electronic data processing system puter rack. The three, with associated buffers and at Camden handled the intercontinental news copy data subsets where required, give the RCA 301 the in very much the same manner as similar com- ability to move information from many locations puters used by the Los Angeles Times and the to one or more data processing centers and at the Palm Beach, Fla., Post - Times. same time deliver finished data to a number of out- With an automatic typesetting system at the lying locations, automatically and at communica- Los Angeles Times, built around an RCA 301, tion line speeds. news copy or advertising matter is processed auto- A manufacturing firm using TIES can have a matically from the writer's typewriter until set in direct two -way data "highway" system connecting type. The system incorporates editing changes and the home office, factories, sales offices, and ware- corrections, divides the copy into lines of proper houses. Computer data and general communica- column width, and decides where words are to be tions traffic may move over the same circuits. hyphenated. TIES is designed to match the user's current The system employed by the Palm Beach Post - needs with provision for on -site expansion of the Times differs primarily in that it employs a "dic- system from the basic 20 -line capacity to as many as tionary" of some 30,000 words stored in the com- 80 lines in increments of 20. puter's memory. TIES makes use of a wide range of existing The new RCA TIES equipment acts as an in- telephone or telegraph services and terminal terpreter for computers and remote sources of data, equipment. accepting messages in different codes and at vary- The Communications Mode Control has been ing rates of speed. Data may originate at outlying engineered in two forms. The single -scan CMC locations in a variety of forms - punched cards, handles all communications lines at a common paper tape, or by means of direct keyboard trans- speed, while the dual -scan version reads up to 10 mission. Terminal equipment automatically con- telephone lines at high speed while scanning other verts the incoming material where necessary to circuits at proportionally slower speeds, depending computer language for handling by an RCA 301 on the transmission potential of the lines being data system. employed. In effect, TIES serves as a "hot line" for the By integrating the versatile RCA 301 and ad- rapid interchange of information by RCA 301s vanced communication techniques, TIES serves to regardless of the distance separating them. broaden and strengthen management control, mak- One of the key TIES units is the Communica- ing available more timely field data on which to tions Mode Control which scans as many as 80 base management decisions. communication lines simultaneously, relaying data TIES also can accelerate the handling of cus- directly to and from computer high -speed memory tomer inquiries and orders, in effect extending a for processing. The lines under electronic surveil- company's computer capacity right to the branch lance can be a combination of telephone and tele- office or distant plant.

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer IOW 11

www.americanradiohistory.com The Scientist Theoretician by Bruce Shore

The man paid to create theory is increasingly more important to American business.

Theory is the poetry of mathematics and, like of the mathematician; in the second, of the scientist. poetry, its essence is metaphor - the sudden equa- There are many kinds of scientists, however, tion of separate ideas that elucidates, systematizes, and they use this language in many different ways. and unites them for the first time. What distinguishes the theorist among them is his "All the world's a stage," cries the poet. use of mathematics not only to describe cause and "E - mc2," exclaims the theorist. effect in nature but to discover it. He uses his Both statements are metaphors, in their own language like a poet, not merely to register but to language, and both equate hitherto unrelated con- relate his observations and, by so doing, to explain cepts in new and powerful ways, affording fresh them. Like the poet, he depends upon insight and insight into their nature and a deepened under- linguistic invention, upon metaphor and figures standing of their meaning. of speech, upon form and meter. The principal Mathematics is a language, in much the same difference is that his medium is mathematics, his way that English is a language. It has subjects, metaphors are equations, and his meter is the uni- objects, predicates, modifiers, and syntax. Its nouns versal rhythm of nature. are numbers and its verbs are add, subtract, mul- There is one more difference. The truth of a tiply, divide, and equals - its verb to be. poet's insight can never be finally shown. It is valid Still, it is a peculiar sort of language. It always subjectively, only as we think it is. Not so the in- speaks in the third person and always in the present sight of the theorist. Theory must be objective. tense. Its nouns have the stark, indisputable mean- It must be able to explain events and to predict ings of number, and its sentences are equations them, not only for this generation but for all gen- that describe the interdependence of these numer- erations. It is poetic, yes. But it is more than poetry. ical nouns and nothing more. The theorist's fluency in mathematics coupled Herein lies its secret, however. For, an inter- with his poetic power to fashion from it valid dependent relationship, whether of people or metaphors that unite matter and energy, time and things, is one of cause and effect -a principle con- space in original and compelling ways has won for sidered basic to the structure of every event in him, recently, a numerically small but vital role nature from the formation of a galaxy to the fission in American industry. of an atom. This is especially so in electronics where the Thus, mathematics is a language designed to need for theorists became acute following the in- express cause and effect either abstractly, in the troduction of the transistor in 1948. context of pure numbers, or concretely, in a con- Here was a device that could switch, amplify, or text of natural phenomena whose values have been modulate an electronic signal passing through it numerically coded. In the first case, it is the idiom just as a vacuum tube could. There was one mo-

12 ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1003

www.americanradiohistory.com Dr. Robert Parmenter: Theory of Superconductivity and Superfluidity.

mentous difference, however. Whereas the tube environment, and how did one condition this en- was a precise assembly of separate parts - cathode, vironment to produce useful electronic phenomena? grid, anode - mounted in a glass -enclosed vacuum, These were tough questions with important the transistor was a single chunk of solid germa- business overtones, and there were no ready an- nium no bigger than a grain of sand. (Later on, swers inside the electronics industry. What was with the introduction of the silicon transistor in needed was someone who understood solid -state the mid- 1950's, it quite literally became a product theory and knew how to apply it. The only man of sand - man -made, of course.) fitting this description was the solid -state theorist. The significance of this unexpected develop- Fortunately, the electronics industry was not ment was that the electronics manufacturer, like caught unprepared. It had been conducting solid - the U.S. Government before him, abruptly found state research of various kinds for more than two himself catapulted into his own phase of the Atomic decades. For instance, two years prior to the an- Age. His next generation of components could not nouncement of the transistor, the Radio Corpora- be assembled from mechanical parts. It would have tion of America had formed a special group of to be synthesized from raw atoms. solid -state researchers at RCA Laboratories in But, what atoms? What were the laws gov- Princeton, N.J. Headed by Dr. Dwight North and erning their behavior? What were the binding Dr. Lloyd Smith and including Dr. Leon Nergaard, forces that fastened them together to create the this group sought to learn why the current flow crystals from which the transistor would be through the oxide surface of the cathode in a wrought? How did electrons act in such a strange vacuum tube started out large and then fell to a

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1063 13

www.americanradiohistory.com steady but relative trickle. Certainly an obscure theory on the electromagnetic nature of light and investigation, but one which gave unexpected in- was consummated in 1925 with publication of sight into the fundamentals of electron conduction Erwin Schrödinger's epochal wave equation relat- in semiconductors - the basis of the transistor. ing the wave and particle properties of matter. Because of this pioneering investigation, RCA In between came the profound contributions was able to act immediately when Dr. William of such gifted men as Ludwig Boltzmann, Josiah Shockley, a member of the Bell Telephone Lab- Willard Gibbs, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels oratories team that developed the transistor, pub- Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Louis de Broglie. lished his definitive book on the subject in 1950. As a body, these were the men who comprised the Dr. North and Dr. Smith, together with other RCA Constitutional Convention of modern physics, who theorists including Dr. Edward Ramberg and Dr. wrote the laws and framed the articles by which Frank Herman, quickly instituted a series of lec- we are still bound in our relations to physical tures, conferences, and seminars to educate other reality. Interestingly, all of them wrote in cogent RCA personnel in the new discipline. metaphor... Shortly thereafter, RCA moved from theory to .... light is electricity and magnetism practice and by 1952 was producing germanium .... heat is atomic motion transistors for hearing aids and pocket radios at .... mass is energy its Electron Tube Division plant in Harrison, N.J. .... gravity is acceleration Again, as with the achievement of controlled .... matter is both particle and wave. nuclear fission in 1942, the theorist had proved his The second reason for industry's delay in hir- economic worth. His equations and formulas, his ing the theorist lay in the character of the theorist theorems and proofs were not just abstract exercises. himself. He was and is a loner, a man inured to They had profound bearing on the real world and privacy and the quiet monasticism of thought. His could be used to afford man an elemental mastery instincts, his background, his training - all com- over nature. American industry was impressed and, bined to direct him toward a position in the in the personnel files of many large companies, physics department of a university. Thus, he was "theorist" began to crop up as a job classification ill- disposed to enter the pragmatic hurly -burly that alongside such venerable titles as "engineer," marks commercial life. "chemist," and "physicist." Finally, there was industry itself. It was a doer. Why had it taken industry so long to appreciate Design products, get into production, cut costs, the power of theory to strengthen its going product raise profits, beat the competition - that was the lines and lay the foundations for those of the ticket! If a new product was needed, invent it. If future? At least three answers must be given. one material failed to work, use another. In such First, the body of physical theory which has a milieu, it was hard to see the worth of paying a now made it possible for man to split the atom, man just to sit there and think! harness the electron, and ride the electromagnetic By the end of World War II, however, all this wave did not even exist a generation ago. It was had begun to change. The practical power of theory brought into being in the incredibly short span had been demonstrated at Alamogordo, in New of only 52 years. Its compilation began in 1873 Mexico, and the theorist had begun to see that his with publication by James Clerk Maxwell of his numerical metaphors could have social, political, and economic meaning. Dr. Dwight North: Theory of Noise. The industrialist, too, had begun to change. The war effort had pushed him to the limit of his existing technology into a regime in materials and phenomena beyond his competence. At this junc- ture, in the electronics industry, the transistor mate- rialized and, on its heels, the digital computer. In the case of the transistor, the need for the- orists was immediate and obvious. In the case of the computer, it was less so, at first. Was not com-

www.americanradiohistory.com and trying to describe the behavior of supercon- ductive materials presently available. It is also important, in an industrial laboratory, to know the limitations of the devices and systems already developed. At least, such knowledge pre- vents trying to do the impossible. At most, it delin- eates what performance goals can be set. This was the effect of Dr. North's classic study on the sources Dr. Albert Rose: Electron Physics of Insulators. of noise in pulse radar systems. This paper has had world -wide circulation and is still considered to puter manufacture simply an assembling of parts, be, 20 years after its composition, the basic refer- a procedure that industry already knew well? ence for anyone wishing to build such systems. It was, indeed, but it was more than that. The Following the scientific literature, maintaining computer was potentially capable of solving just personal touch with key members of the scientific about any problem that could be reduced to the community, staying abreast of critical research go- language of mathematics, from the orbital velocity ing forward in the laboratories - these are other of space satellites to the production of bottlenecks functions carried on by the industrial theorist both of industry. It could have a kind of "mental life" for his own benefit and that of management. all it's own, if one but knew how to program for it. Probably one of the theorist's most valuable What was needed were not physical theorists ancillary roles, however, is as a catalyst to inven- but design theorists skilled in the morphologic tion. Since he does not do experiments himself and rigors of information processing. Fortunately, the does not synthesize materials, he must content him- world's universities had been producing such wiz- self with inspiring others to do so. Thus, he cir- ards steeped in the lore of symbolic logic, proposi- culates a lot, pokes into various laboratories that tional calculus, combinatorics, the theory of sets interest him, buttonholes colleagues he feels can and the theory of probability, since about 1940. benefit from his ideas, encourages others to air their They were there and industry hurried to enlist research problems with him, and, in general, at- them. Today, they are behind the computer's grow- tempts to spark the inventive process. ing mastery of a thousand different tasks. Finally, there is the theorist's responsibility to At RCA Laboratories, for example, Dr. Saul advise research management on what significant Amarel, a member of this select fraternity, is lead- scientific trends are developing, what new lines of ing a crack team of information processing theorists research should be opened, where current activities across a no man's land of switching networks and should be curtailed, and so on through the thou- stored programs toward such astonishing goals as sand natural cares that such managers are heir to. machines that adapt to changing situations, that To counsel, to catalyze, to create - these are read print, and that may even display intelligence. the responsibilities of the modern industrial the- To explore new ideas, to create new metaphors orist. In the final analysis, all three stem directly that bridge the discontinuities in nature, to build from his power not only to describe but to dis- mathematical models of reality- these are still the cover the secrets of nature in the metaphors of paramount business of the theorist, even in indus- mathematics. try. But with time and usage have come other tasks and other responsibilities. Dr. Saul Amarel: Computer Theory. For example, the theorist at RCA Laboratories is frequently asked to use his descriptive powers in mathematics to interpret, within the limits of accepted theory, the events going on in new mate- rials or new components emerging from the ma- terials and devices laboratories. Thus, Dr. Robert Parmenter currently divides his time between try- ing to solve the riddle of superconductivity per se

www.americanradiohistory.com STUDENTS and SCIENCE

A pictorial report on a day -long field trip concluding the first year of the David Sarnoff Industry -Science Teaching Program pilot project.

www.americanradiohistory.com A field trip to Princeton, N.J., on June 6, by 160 junior and senior high school students from Brook- lyn climaxed the David Sarnoff Industry- Science Teaching Program launched October 15, 1962, as a cooperative endeavor of the Board of Education of the City of New York and the Radio Corpora- tion of America. The day -long field trip, made at the invitation of Board Chairman David Sarnoff, permitted the students and their science teachers to visit the RCA Laboratories and the Space Center of the RCA As- tro- Electronics Division and renew acquaintances with scientists they had first met in their Brooklyn classrooms. "The scientists brought our students a realistic look at the Space Age with a series of 52 lectures at Midwood and Erasmus Hall High Schools and Andries Hudde and Ditmas Junior High Schools," said Samuel Schenberg, Director of the Office of Science Education of the New York City schools. "And now this trip to Princeton has made it pos- sible for our students to see these same scientists in the workshops of the Space Age - the laboratory and the testing chamber. "The program," he added, "has stimulated tre- mendous student interest in such fields as nuclear physics, cryogenics, and space technology." General Sarnoff, who proposed the pilot pro- gram as a practical means of encouraging more young people to pursue careers in science, has ex- pressed the hope that similar programs can be established throughout America. "If only 5 per cent of the 1,300,000 physical scientists and engineers in the United States were to devote a few days each year to educational in- struction, our junior and senior high school stu- dents would have direct access to 65,000 of the finest technical brains available anywhere in the world," General Sarnoff has said. In a message to the students visiting Princeton, he announced that RCA plans to continue its par - ticipation in the program launched last October in Brooklyn. "In so far as RCA is concerned," General Sarnoff's message said, "our scientists will be back in New York schools during the next academic year. Elsewhere in the United States and Canada, we are considering similar programs. And it is our fervent hope that other industries, both in New York and throughout the country, will enroll their scientists and engineers in similar projects."

www.americanradiohistory.com Repertory Theater Cornes to TV by Charles Gregg

A new television show is helping to revitalize a 2,500 year-old theater tradition.

The world's oldest and most distinguished drama Odets, who will write at least six originals for the form - repertory theater - becomes a new dimen- NBC -TV series. sion on network television this fall when NBC -TV Repertory, too, was the mark of drama when it premieres "The Richard Boone Show" as televi- revived after the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages. sion's first regular repertory company of a dozen Drama was reborn as if it had never existed before. or more actors, headed by Boone. Acting companies were formed in medieval Eng- The great drama of the classical world - in land, France, and Germany. The actors, whose ancient Greece and Rome, and medieval England social status was that of servants in the households and France - was drama of this type, for want of of powerful lords, gave public exhibitions of their skilled actors and playwrights. art in public squares and on improvised wooden Beginning with Thespis, the great 6th century stages. These became, in fact, repertory theaters, B.C. poet whose name marks all drama and is leading eventually to the Globe, which, presenting synonymous with tragedy, and continuing through plays of Shakespeare (who was a resident and part - the early Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Euripides, owner), became the most famed of all repertory Sophocles, Menander, etc.), civilization's earliest companies. theater was repertory in nature - and, in a sense. And, although new to television, repertory is is similar to what NBC -TV's "The Richard Boone no stranger to broadcasting. Network radio's "Mer- Show" is pioneering on television nearly 2,500 cury Theatre" - featuring such outstanding per- years later. formers as Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Writers' works so inspired public adulation that Everett Sloane - was one of radio's top dramatic actors were created to perform them, and writers series and also produced what several critics' polls and actors worked and lived together dedicated to have labeled as the top motion picture of all time, their art. "Citizen Kane."

When Mediterranean culture shifted to Rome, London's "Old Vic "; New York's myriad off - so did the classic theater of the Roman dramatists Broadway companies; Stratford Shakespearean (Plautus, Seneca, etc.). Plays were performed and troupes in the U. S., England, and Canada; and staged in the same manner, with the exception that summer stock and collegiate and neighborhood ac- actors like Aesopus and Roscius became nearly as tors' workshops are evidence that repertory remains popular as authors of the works they performed. one of drama's most accepted and distinguished Here, too, is a parallel with "The Richard Boone forms. Show." Television audiences can expect the very Although it has been a long time coming, this best when an actor as distinguished as Boone per- kind of theater now is finally finding a niche in forms in a drama by an author as skilled as Clifford prime -time television.

18 ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 7903

www.americanradiohistory.com Acting company of television's first repertory theater.*

According to Boone, who will be host on each than any filmed dramatic series on TV has before." of the programs and will appear in all as an actor, To attain this goal, in support of Boone's large this is because "there's too darn much talent around and talented company, Odets has rounded up the to put on a drama show any other way." The greatest assemblage of writing talent in TV history filmed, hour -long series will be broadcast on NBC - to provide scripts for the pioneering series. The TV Tuesday, 9 to 10 P.M. New York time. The roster of distinguished writers includes Odets him- premiere is September 24. self, John Steinbeck, Edward Albee, Rod Serling, Boone and his two associates on the program - John O'Hara, and A. E. Hotchner. dramatist Clifford Odets who will serve as head Directors who have been secured by producer writer and story consultant, and producer Buck Houghton include Lewis Milestone, Lamont John- Houghton - have at this writing assembled a per- son, Walter Grauman, and Robert Gist. manent company of 11 players, eight of whom have "Each of the writers and directors has been distinguished themselves as regular stars of their signed for more than one program in keeping with own TV series. The company includes: the concept of this series," Boone says. "Our group Boone ( "Medic" and "Have Gun, Will represents television's first permanent repertory Travel "); Lloyd Bochner ( "Hong Kong "); Harry company in prime time, and this will give conti- Morgan ( "December Bride" and "Pete and Glad- nuity to the series - and also enable the performers ys"); Guy Stockwell ( "Adventures in Paradise "); to have identity as actors rather than as continuing Ford Rainey ( "Window on Main Street "); June characters. Harding ( "As the World Turns "); Jeanette Nolan "We will become so completely familiar with one ( "Hotel de Paree"); Warren Stevens ( "77th Bengal another's styles and abilities that everyone should Lancers "); Bethel Leslie; Robert Blake; and Laura be able to do his best work with each performance. Devon. We will have continuing actors, rather than con- "Each one of our performers," Boone declares. tinuing roles, which should make a big difference "will rotate from starring to featured to bit roles, in audience loyalty and in the ratings." depending on the individual script. I will be the Viewers accustomed to Boone type -cast as Dr. only exception in so much as half of my parts will Steiner of "Medic," Paladin of "Have Gun ..." or be major ones." Boone adds: even as Abraham Lincoln of Broadway's "The "Nearly all of our dramas will be originals, and Rivalry" are in for a once -a -week surprise after nearly all will have a contemporary setting. They "The Richard Boone Show" is launched. will not beat around the bush - but they will be The actor will star as a down -and -out Santa hopeful, optimistic in tone. First and foremost, we Front, left to right: Bethel Leslie, June Harding. Richard Boone, Laura Devon, Jeanette Nolan; rear, left to right: Robert Blake, Harry plan to entertain and to reach a larger audience Morgan, Warren Stevens, Ford Rainey. Guy Stockwell, Lloyd Bochner.

ELECTRONIC AGE Sumner 1963 19

www.americanradiohistory.com "I believe that you can attract a large audience if you give them vital, fresh, exciting theater.. .

The repertory company enacts a scene before the cameras for a forthcoming television production.

Claus, a Mexican pearl fisherman, a leper, a Roman For his NBC -TV series, Boone's hosting will be Catholic bishop, an airline pilot, a tramp, and an done in an unconventional way. "I loathe the kind 83- year -old business tycoon, among other roles. of TV anthology," Boone declares, "where the host Boone is thoroughly convinced that good drama comes out in white tie and says, 'Ladies and gentle- can also be popular. men, tonight we present ...' "I believe that you can attract a large audience "We're not going to be stilted like that, nor are if you give them vital, fresh, exciting theater," he we going to throw key scenes away as a teaser or states. "I think that you can do something that's throw stills on the screen. Instead, each drama will meaningful and that's popular - if it's done well. have a prologue, setting the scene and pace. I'll "We're not interested, for instance, in winning appear in costume and makeup as the character a dozen Emmy Awards with a show that has only I'm going to play." limited popular appeal. We're not interested in How does Boone think his many years (six so- called "misery theater" either. What we mean years and 234 episodes) as Paladin on "Have Gun, to do is explore contemporary American life from Will Travel" will affect his workaday schedule and top to bottom, dealing with real human problems his public image? and comic situations everyone can understand. I "Life will be easier," Boone states, "because the call this 'hopeful' drama." battles will be a different - and simpler - kind of Boone chooses to describe his company of actors, warfare. It will be 'how -good- can -we- make -this- directors, and writers for "The Richard Boone story' rather than breaking my head trying to do Show" as "a complete and many- faceted theater." something new and different within a rigid mold." In addition to the TV repertory players, Boone, In summation, Boone declares: "I'm a lion; Odets, and Houghton have created a workshop on and, although I have a face that resembles a relief the M -G -M lot for the training of young actors map of the state of Nevada, I can act. Clifford and writers. Odets is in charge of the writers, and I'm not about Frank Sinatra, Jr., Ivan Dixon, Joyce Van Pat- to give drama lessons to the country's most skilled ten, Lonny Chapman, Brenda Scott, Woodrow dramatist. Buck Houghton is in charge of the ac- Parfrey, Charles Aidman, and Sandy Kenyon are tors, and they're like the Yankees ball team. We some of the 30 talented performers who have been will have no apologies to make...." assembled. This company will serve as a casting Boone's 1963 -64 prime -time dramatic showcase reserve for some of "The Richard Boone Show" on NBC -TV represents the achievement of the dramas and, with the repertory company, will theater's most exciting and historic heritage. TV's present at least two West Coast stage productions first regular- season repertory company of skilled a year, one at the University of California (Los actors, presenting original dramas written by Amer- Angeles) and another in San Francisco. A motion ica's major playwrights, is a sound investment in picture is also in the offing. TV's future.

20 ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1003

www.americanradiohistory.com Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology long ago detected the unique capabilities of the frog's eye - the simplest, most basic retina in the animal kingdom - and did comprehensive research on it. RCA scientists became interested hack in 1959, theorizing that the frog's retina could be duplicated electronically for purposes useful to man. They studied the problem, submitted a pro- posal to the U.S. Air Force, and in 1961 were au- thorized to build a pattern recognition machine based on the function of the frog's eye. In the spring of 1963, RCA's Applied Research Organization, in Camden, N. J., delivered the fin- ished machine to USAF's Aeronautical Systems The Frog's Eye Division at Wright- Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio. by Robert L. Moora Three and a half feet square, six feet long, and weighing hundreds of pounds, the machine du- plicates the functions of the frog's nerve cells by A significant and unusual device means of printed circuits, photoelectric cells, neon bulbs, and relays. All told, it has 33,000 electronic electronically simulates the components. amazing information-processing Its purpose? The Air Force hopes that the elec- tronic frog's eye ultimately will lead to ways of functions of a real frog's eye. providing data interpretation - and even decisions - in a variety of fields, including air -traffic control, If frogs could play baseball, you might picture missile detection, photo reconnaissance, and the this sequence of events at the Stadium, with the like. Yankees facing the Croakers. Staunch Greeny Pond - Its significance? It is the forerunner of a new side, the Croakers' left fielder, neatly gathers in generation of information -processing devices on an a long fly hit in his direction by Roger Maris. animal nervous system or neuron logic. As Donald Minutes later, Mickey Mantle poles one over J. Parker, Manager of RCA's Applied Research, Greeny's head into the left field stands. Greeny puts it: "In the past, we have extended man's senses doesn't blink an eye. greatly by telephone, radio, television, radar, and What's the matter with Greeny the frog? Wasn't a host of other developments. In building the frog's - he even interested in reaching for that Mantle eye model, we embark on substitution of machines homer - or didn't he see it? The latter is the an- for the senses themselves." swer. He never knew the homer was going over. His eye detected it, but since the ball was obviously out of reach the eye never bothered to transmit the information to Greeny's primitive brain. That's the way a frog's eye works. It's a com- puter that screens the information it sees and sends to the brain only what is important to the frog. The approach of a luscious green fly is transmitted instantly from eye to brain, but a fly flying away is ignored. A sudden shadow - indicative of danger - is immediately recorded but the gradual fall of darkness is not.

RCA engineers demonstrate an electronic device that "sees" like a real frog's eye.

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1903 21

www.americanradiohistory.com Industry's Pursuit of Cleanliness

by ,Jules Koslow

www.americanradiohistory.com Space Age requirements for success demand accuracies up to 50/1,000,000 of an inch. One speck of dust, one fingerprint can cause failure. The "White Room" is industry's answer to this problem.

Since the Space Age began, and with the recent de- of the key elements in our national defense arsenal. velopments in space technology and micro- minia- Briefly, the Minuteman is a three -stage, solid turization, dirt -free precision parts have become an propellent, intercontinental ballistic missile. The absolute must. For example: mission of Minuteman is the destruction of stra- A speck of dirt on a sensitive instrument locked tegic targets whose ranges vary from 2,000 to 5,500 within a rocket headed for the moon could cause nautical miles. The Minuteman Weapon System it to go off course by thousands of miles. and its ground components are expressly designed A fingerprint inducing oxidation or corrosion for simplicity and high reliability so that the per- on a machined part intended to be accurate to sonnel required to support the system may be held 50/1,000,000 of an inch could result in the failure to a minimum. By utilizing America's mass- produc- of a guided missile to hit its mark or go off on tion techniques, Minuteman missiles can be made signal. - and deployed - in great numbers. "Cleanliness in certain assembly and inspection Because of Minuteman's high reliability needs functions is as vital to the success of our space and the mass -production techniques used in pro- and defense efforts as cleanliness is to the life of a ducing it, the world's largest White Room is now patient in a hospital operating room," an industry in operation at the Radio Corporation of America's spokesman recently remarked. Cambridge, Ohio, plant. Here, RCA, as subcon- Today, in more than 200 industrial plants tractor to The Boeing Company for the Sensitive throughout the country, specially constructed Command Network of Minuteman, is faced with rooms, varying in size and function and known an array of formidable technical and management by such names as "White Rooms," "Clean Rooms," tasks. One of the most important is assuring relia- or "Dust -Free Rooms," have been established to bility of such high quality that the term "Minute- attain what engineers call "high reliability." Corn - man Reliability" now has a meaning of its own, panies that have established White Rooms include signifying a level well beyond existing current Radio Corporation of America, McDonnell Air- practices. In fact, present requirements call for a craft, Hughes Aircraft, Sperry Rand, Sylvania reliability 100 times greater - and a goal 1,000 Electric, Western Electric, Boeing, and North times greater - than the reliability required for American Aviation. Time, effort, and expense go average military equipment. into building and maintaining these White Rooms Engineers talking about reliability use terms so they will meet stringent cleanliness standards. like "Mean Time Between Failure" and "Prob- Compared to a high- standard White Room, the ability of Survival" that have precise mathematical spic-and -span living room of the most meticulous meanings. But what does Minuteman reliability housewife is way above the dust -tolerance level. mean to the non -engineer citizen? Even the sterile operating room of a hospital is low Simply stated, Minuteman reliability is a meas- on the cleanliness totem pole. ure of the certainty that the Minuteman missile be A striking example of the need for high relia- launched and reach its target when directed. bility is the vital Minuteman Weapon System, one Hundreds of thousands of parts - accurately made are used in the ground system that controls Vital military electronic components on the production line - in the White Room of RCA's Cambridge, Ohio, plant. the missiles. Accuracy is so critical that in many

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer ;063 23

www.americanradiohistory.com ."clean-up" measures that would drive the most fastidious housewife out of her mind .. .

Hospital -like cleanliness prevails in TT'kite Room. cases a speck of dust or corrosion caused by perspi- air change provided by the air -filtering system. ration from a person's fingers handling a part would Operating requirements demand that dust be be enough to cause that part to fail. filtered down to 1,000 particles per cubic foot To prepare adequately to meet Minuteman's larger than 10.0 microns (a micron is about 40 formidable reliability requirements, in February, millionths of an inch). Actually, the White Room 1961, RCA began converting a section of its runs at less than 1,000 particles per cubic foot, 355,000- square -foot Cambridge plant into a White over 10.0 microns. Room. Today, this plant -within -a -plant occupies In the Cambridge White Room as well as in approximately 70,000 square feet, an area one and other industrial "homes" where reliability is an one -half times as large as a football field. The con- absolute necessity, the pursuit of cleanliness is an version cost - more than $1.5 million. endless task requiring "clean -up" measures that To control dust, extreme care was taken in the would drive the most fastidious housewife out of design. construction, and furnishings of the White her mind. In addition to filter systems, air condi- Room. Gaskets were used between walls and ceil- tioning, and other mechanical means, plain old - ings as well as around pipes. Easy -to -clean materials fashioned scrubbing goes on constantly. For exam- such as stainless steel and Formica were used for ple, at Cambridge the clean -up schedule calls for tables and storage racks, pure vinyl for the floors, the material entrance and decontamination areas and nonstatic washable-type material for the walls. and entrance hallways to be scrubbed twice daily. An air- pressure system was installed so that, when The air showers and gelatin mats must be damp - a door is opened to the contaminated outside world, mopped after each mass movement of personnel; filtered air goes out of the White Room and dust- namely, shift changes, breaks, lunch, etc. The laden air is prevented from entering. solder room must be wet- mopped twice daily, and Most White Rooms are small assembly or test- the hallways and remaining White Room areas ing rooms, employing a relatively small number must be damp- mopped daily and scrubbed weekly. of persons. RCA's one -and -a- half -acre White Room The work area must be cleaned daily with a damp is unique in that it is an actual production plant, cloth, and the entire work area must be thoroughly with more than 700 employees at the present time. cleaned weekly. All this - remember - while vac- Herculean efforts are needed to control the uuming is continually in operation. physical environment of the huge Cambridge The various materials and components destined White Room, through which each day pass thou- for the communications system of Minuteman are sands of pieces of material and hundreds of people. handled with the utmost care and accuracy. Mate- A 360 -ton air- conditioning system - about 90 rials from the outside are unpacked in a special times larger than used in a six -room house - keeps area and then packaged in small plastic containers the White Room at around 72° F. temperature and or plastic envelopes. They are then thoroughly at about 45 per cent relative humidity. The filter cleaned with vacuum hoses in a material decon- system screens out dust particles, the smallest of tamination room, and every component, such as which are about 100 times tinier than the dust resistors, capacitors, transistors, and diodes, is indi- one sees when the sun streams into one's living vidually inspected. Throughout the assembly proc- room. About every six minutes, there is a complete ess, each individual component's "case history" is

24 ElECTRONIC AGE Summer 1003

www.americanradiohistory.com Constant checking helps to assure reliability. registered on data cards by electronic accounting trained Hawkshaw usually spots her. In no un- machines. If an assembler or inspector drops a com- certain terms, she is told to wash her face. ponent on a workbench -a distance of only a few Within the White Room itself, employees must inches - the component must be reinspected. not chew gum or eat. They can not use paper Almost all White Room experts say that the products. They must not use wooden pencils; only most difficult problem in assuring super -cleanliness liquid lead and ball -point pens are permitted. Many is the personnel working in the room. Though at of them wear lint -free white gloves so that no skin first glance this appears to be a harsh judgment, oils come off on a component. And, of course, smok- actually it cannot be otherwise. White Room per- ing is absolutely forbidden. sonnel must go back and forth every day from the Instances of employees trying to circumvent the contaminated outside world to their super -clean rules are rare. One contributing factor is that working atmosphere. And since people are - well - they are motivated by specially prepared training people, they have dandruff, falling hair, flaked skin, courses on why super -cleanliness is a vital factor all of which help to "dirty up" a White Room. in our space and defense efforts. Even normal activities such as walking and speak- Although occasionally an employee balks at the ing help to stir up the air. Certain actions that in sameness of costume or the strict rules and asks to the outside world are considered part of modern be transferred to more conventional surroundings, living - for example, women using cosmetics - the overwhelming majority of employees like work- are forbidden within White Rooms. ing in the White Room. They are pleased by its All this adds up to the fact that precautionary cleanliness, its comfortable temperature in both measures and work rules for White Room per- winter and summer, and by the fact that they are sonnel have to be established and rigidly enforced. engaged in important space and defense work Upon entering the Cambridge White Room that requires meticulous care. area locker rooms, all persons walk over a "sticky" With all the stringent measures and precau- mat, which catches dust and dirt from their shoes. tions, involving everything from material handling They then walk through two corridors containing to personnel, how dust -free are industry's White high -pressure blowers that remove dust and lint Rooms? Well, the slide-rule men say that at RCA's from their street clothes. In the locker rooms, they White Room in Cambridge, for example, it would put on a snap- closure Dacura snood or cap that take 7,000,000 deep breaths to fill the area with air, covers their hair; a laundered -to-specifications lint- yet there is less air -borne dust present in the entire free, no- pocket, snap -closure Dacron -blend white White Room area than would he expelled from two smock over their clothes; and nylon or Dacura long drags on a cigarette! elastic -closure booties over their shoes. They are Do achievement statistics such as this make re- now ready to enter the White Room. liability engineers smug and satisfied? Not at all. A guard at the door inspects each worker to They are continually striving for more improve- make sure he is properly dressed in appropriate ments in White Room conditions and procedures. White Room clothing, and that women are not Industry's Space Age pursuit of cleanliness - wearing cosmetics. If a female maverick wearing like man's ages -long pursuit of happiness - is powder or lipstick tries to slip through, the specially never -ending.

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1903 25

www.americanradiohistory.com a+wM .. ,0110/0 AO" /f+..'.+ wv .s 1111Arr6..

www.americanradiohistory.com Modern "Patronage ": Fusion of Art and Industry by Alan Kayes

Increasing industry support for talented young artists is producing a system reminiscent of the cultural patronage of bygone years.

One of the most significant aspects of the "cultural support of the Boston Symphony Orchestra until explosion" in the United States is the fusion of art the second decade of the twentieth century, such and industry. Industry, by definition under our eco- largesse was unique in its time and showed signs nomic system, is based on an ultimate motive of even then of disappearing. profit. However, it has been this very motive of The Wall Street debacle in 1929 may have been insuring a reasonable return on capital invested the coup de grace for many private family ventures that has prompted American corporations to make of this sort. In the thirties and forties, it became varied and substantial contributions to the commu- increasingly apparent that, while there were still nity and to assume the role of patron of the arts. to be found individual patrons of the arts, the While such contributions and patronage are profit - responsibility was shifting slowly but surely toward oriented, nevertheless this new role for industry corporate and industrial patronage. Thus, the has re- created, on a far more lavish scale, the age of names most frequently associated with cultural patronage of the arts that was associated with the patronage in this day and age are associated with royal families of Europe a century or two ago. huge industrial and corporate resources. Large Curiously enough, the role of industry and cor- foundations, bearing the family names of Ford, porate foundations in the broadened cultural scene Rockefeller, and Carnegie, and others of similar is in itself a replacement of the type of patronage magnitude that have resulted from industrial en- provided by individual and family philanthropy. terprises, are assuming cultural responsibilities on Eleemosynary institutions that rely almost solely on a scale that dwarfs the efforts of the Esterhazy family donors to meet operating budgets and deficits have and other noble patrons of previous centuries. been the first to recognize this shift in the source Although patronage in itself is a noble concept, of their income. its implications today are far more democratic in Observers of the contemporary scene have noted principle; implicit in the support of corporations repeatedly that, whereas an Otto Kahn almost single - and foundations is the idea of providing greater cul- handedly guaranteed the deficits of the Metro- tural good for a greater number of people while at politan Opera in an earlier day, and a Colonel the same time permitting the patron to receive Higginson was solely responsible for the financial attendant financial benefits. While a composer such as Haydn owed allegiance to the Esterhazy family of Hungary, it might well be argued that those As a boy (top), pianist Lorin Hollander demonstrated talent patrons of music were indulging a private pleasure, that propelled him through a progression of concerts to a record premiere performance at 19 with the Boston Sym- notwithstanding the fact that composers, authors, phony Orchestra's Erich Leinsdorf (bottom, right). and artistic leaders were invited to the Esterhazy

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1963 27 www.americanradiohistory.com At 70, violinist Erick Friedman performs with an orchestra ... Later, he plays a duet with Heifetz for a recording...

. . if the musical performer cannot overcome the problems of having a

"trial stage" to hear the output of contemporary The program itself had no formal origin, but creative talents. its inception can be traced back more than 15 years Certainly, if comparison is in order, and cost when a young singer named Mario Lanza, en- is the yardstick. the founding and maintenance of dowed with a remarkable vocal talent, was first the NBC Symphony Orchestra over a period of signed to a contract by the RCA Victor Record years might well outstrip the financial outlays of a Division. Lanza was given a sum of money with substantial number of such royal patrons over a the admonition that it was to be used solely for considerably longer period of time. study, and that he would not be called upon to Underlying the shift in support that has charac- perform for records until his teacher felt that he terized the American cultural explosion is another was qualified. Lanza's success came soon afterward. fact frequently glossed over. There was a time The painter who starves all his life can leave when creative and performing talent was a rare behind canvases which can document his having commodity and hard to come by. If anything, the existed as a creative force. The writer who never American scene today presents a broad palette of sells a story can have his name remembered if creative and performing talent of such plenitude someone opens his trunk, discovers his manuscripts, that the problem becomes more one of selectivity and gets them published. But if the musical per- than of search. former cannot overcome the problems of having a It was this fundamental fact that prompted hearing, he may be courting oblivion. RCA Victor some time ago to undertake a program Thus, what might be called "the RCA Victor of including in its recording contracts with promis- grants to students" came into existence as a means ing young musicians and vocalists provision for of ensuring that musical talent, when selected as study and training prior to actual recording activity worthy of being heard ultimately, is provided a for commercial release. This served the three -fold period of time for growth and development. purpose of giving deserving talent recognition at a Six years ago, RCA Victor heard a 12- year -old time when it was sorely needed, and at the same pianist named Lorin Hollander. Lorin had mas- time supplying the musicians and vocalists with tered the technical proficiencies usual only to a modest financial means so that they could pursue very few of the most gifted mature artists. He had their studies, and also enabling RCA Victor to de- a growing musical intelligence that was embedded velop new talent which it might someday feature in a tremendous personal identification with the with pride on its phonograph records. loftiest purposes of music. All this suggested the

28 ELECTRONIC AGE Sommer l9t3

www.americanradiohistory.com At end of student days, he signs Red Seal contract... Subsequently, he makes first solo album recording.

hearing, he may be courting oblivion. The recording was issued, and critical response has indicated that the years of patience, of study possibility of a career of the rarest sort. But Lorin and training, were not wasted, that Lorin Hollan- needed time to learn, to mature musically as his der has served his notice that he very well may be association with the repertory grew and his musical the Rubinstein of tomorrow. notions became more profound. Another instance in which the success of the Lorin Hollander was also signed to a contract, program instituted by RCA Victor has been proved some aspects of which might be called a student is the case of Erick Friedman. grant or scholarship. As the years passed, RCA Friedman, a New Jersey youth, had studied the Victor followed Hollander's development with the violin since his childhood. By the time he reached concern of a parent as the youth's genius flowered. his late teens, it was evident that he was a violinist When Hollander reached his eighteenth birth- of enormous talent 'hut that he also needed the day, RCA Victor decided that the period of specu- benefit of further study. lation had ended. With the help of the financial When Friedman was 19 years of age, RCA support which had provided a period of study and Victor entered into a contract with him providing growth, young Hollander had become an artist of for study and training. He became one of the few consummate taste and ability. In addition, he had persons ever to be accepted as a student by the that rare quality of being able to project his genius great Heifetz. In the following years, his promise in such a way that the public could be expected of genius was given the impetus of a most excellent to respond and understand. background for the ultimate launching of his career. The next step was to choose the way of formally Heifetz was greatly impressed with the youth's presenting the new giant of the piano. It was potential, and when the time seemed right to in- decided to give him the benefit of the most ideal troduce Friedman to the world, he asked that the arrangement for his initial Red Seal recording -a student become his collaborator in a recorded per- collaboration with the Boston Symphony, the aris- formance of the Bach Double Concerto. tocrat of orchestras, and its new music director, Lanza, Hollander, Friedman. These are but a Erich Leinsdorf. few of the musical talents that have been aided by In this brilliant showcase, Hollander was pre- the fusion of art and industry. Modern -day "patron- sented in the premiere recording of Dello Joio's age," as exemplified by the RCA Victor program, is Fantasy and Variations, a work which had been constantly searching out the musical talents of written expressly with Hollander's great technical today in order to give them the opportunity of virtuosity in mind. developing into the musical masters of tomorrow.

ELECTRONIC AGE Summer Ma 29

www.americanradiohistory.com Electronic Poetry

In addition to business and scientific applications, a computer shows its versatility by composing blank verse at the rate of 150 words a minute.

There is apparently no limit to the versatility of he makes use of an "interrupt" pushbutton on the electronic computers. They are proving invaluable console to achieve a variety of verse content. As in helping man to attain more effective communi- the computer "reads" its programmed vocabulary cation systems, improve industrial controls, ad- from tape, Phillippy depresses the "interrupt" but- vance medical research, and further his conquest ton at random and the computer picks a word at of space. In addition, computers are now reaching that given instant. The same procedure is followed into areas of how men think; how they react to in picking the subsequent nouns, verbs, and so situations; and how they communicate by the forth. Phillippy has no way of knowing, until he thinking process. takes a look at the printer output, what the choices An example of the unusual areas in which com- were. puters can function was recently demonstrated by The three -word final line comes from an ad- Clair Phillippy, an RCA Computer Site Leader at ditional vocabulary of 30 words. Lancaster, Pa. Phillippy, who was then a laboratory To date, Phillippy and the RCA 301 have pro- instructor of the Electronic Data Processing Serv- duced more than 500 selections of verse. These ice function of the RCA Service Company, worked selections by computer, though electronically com- with an RCA 301 -a completely transistorized, posed, are at times reminiscent of Donne, Blake, general purpose electronic data processing system. and such modern poets as Eliot and Cummings. For his experiment, Phillippy programmed a Even the most prolific poets would be hard put basic vocabulary of 100 words which the computer to match the computer which has the capability organized and presented on paper as blank verse of producing 150 poems a minute. - some of which are reproduced on these pages. Actually, this somewhat whimsical computer To establish a system for the machine, Phil- programming may have a practical application. lippy selected 10 of the 100 words as "starters" - Phillippy sees it as an exercise in improving an those to be used to begin each line of verse. Other operator's programming skill in practical computer words were segregated depending on whether they applications. were nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Phil- lippy then settled on a format of four-line verses. Each of the first three lines was to contain seven At the rate of 15 feet of copy every 60 seconds, this RCA words with the final line held to three. 301 printer can turn out business reports or the poems When Phillippy and the computer collaborate, shown at right.

30 ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1963

www.americanradiohistory.com POFM N0. 027

WHILE LIFE REACHED EVILLY THROUGH EMPTY FACES WHILE FPACE FLOWED SLOWLY O =ER IDLE BODIES AND STARS FLOWED EVILLY UPON VAST MEN NO PASSION SMILED

BY THE RCA 301

POEM NO. 929

WHILE DREAM FLOWED BLINDLY ON BROKEN HOPES STILL SPACE DRAINED SICKLY O =ER BROKEN LOVES YOUR LIGHT DRIVEN SLOWLY FROM FURTIVE MEN NO HEAVENS SLEPT

BY THE RCA 301

POEM NO. 078

THOUGH STARS DRAINED SICKLY UPON IDLE HOVELS FOR LIFE BLAZED FAST UPON EMPTY FACES WHILE BLOOD LOOMED BITTER ON IDLE FIELDS NO MARTIAN SMILED

BY THE RCA 301

POEM No. 105

OUR WATER FLOWED MEANLY AGAINST EMPTY SKIES OUR BLOOD DYING EVILLY NEAR EMPTY BODIES AND GLOOM FLOWED MEANLY THROUGH GAUNT FACES OUR FOE PALLED

BY THE RCA 301

POEM NO. 140

,À YET LIGHT REACHED BITTER FROM FURTIVE LOVES YOUR BLOOD DRIVEN FOULLY =NEATH INHUMAN HOVELS FOR STARS DRAINED FREELY =ROUND BLACK DEEDS THE HEAVENS PALLED

BY THE RCA 301

www.americanradiohistory.com Electronically Speaking

News of current developments briefly told.

FLIERS' ELECTRONIC YARDSTICK days, averaging 1,500 lines a day and charts normally carried by a One of the concerns of pilots for 75,000 lines typed. Similarly, U.S. Navy carrier at sea may be since the time of the old Jenny a single clerk would have to work replaced by a new electronic device, biplane - and especially in the a full year on the entire job at an five tons of blank paper, and a crowded air of the Jet Age - is approximate cost of $6,000. library of film. knowing exactly where they are in Now, the same job can be Known as an "Electrofax" repro- flight at any given time as fast as handled by computer application ducer, the RCA -developed house- possible. in six hours at a cost of $825. In hold- refrigerator-sized machine re- To give pilots this fast and ac- addition, the electronic data proc- produces maps and charts in color curate information, RCA's Avia- essing systems turn out the printed directly from 70- millimeter film tion Equipment Department in pages for final reproduction and positive separations. It reproduces West Los Angeles, Calif., is pro- binding. them in five colors at a speed of ducing a distance -measuring device about 25 an hour. for commercial airlines that is BRAIN WAVES FROM SPACE called "one of the most sophis- ELECTRONICS' ELEPHANT MEMORY Relay, the National Aeronautics ticated pieces of electronic air -borne The thin -film superconductive and Space Administration's com- equipment in existence." computer memory being immersed munications satellite built by RCA, The device, known as AVQ -70, in liquid helium at right repre- has just become a new, intercon- provides pilots wtih continuous dis- sents a long- sought -after goal in tinental diagnostic tool for doctors. tance information from a given computer research the first thin - Recently, it transmitted electroen- - ground station, with an accuracy film superconductive all- electronic cephalograms (recordings of "brain of a little above or a little below memory, offering in one unit a waves ") from the Burden Neuro- one -tenth of a nautical mile up to practical combination of high logical Institute in Bristol, Eng- five nautical miles. The variance speed, large capacity, and compact- land, to a meeting of the National at 200 nautical miles is only two - ness. Academy of Neurology being held tenths of a mile. Developed at RCA's David Sar- in Minneapolis, Minn. The diag- noff Research Center at Princeton, nosis was made, and results were CATALOGUING BY COMPUTER N.J., the revolutionary experi- interpreted within one minute and A synchronized team of five com- mental memory can store 16,384 sent back to England. puters three RCA 501s and a bits of computer information in - The test was conducted on a per- pair of RCA 301s will take on the an area smaller than a playing card son with normal brain waves. How- staggering and seemingly endless and only 120 millionths of an inch ever, Dr. Reginald Bickford of the cataloguing of more than 674,000 thick. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., industrial supply items for the De- This experimental RCA mem- said, with the combination of satel- fense Industrial Supply Center ory employs extremely thin layers lite transmission and computer (DISC) in Philadelphia. The items of materials that become super- analysis, it is possible to diagnose being catalogued range from rope, conductive at very low tempera- brain disorders over long distances tackle, and paint to metals, hard- tures that is, they lose all re- and determine which part of the - ware, and bearings. sistance to the flow of electricity brain is affected. In countries with- As an example of the time in- and thus can store indifinitely com- out adequate neurological services, volved, it would require four clerk - puter information in the form of such communication would be ex- typists working 21 days and aver- electric currents. To acquire and tremely valuable. aging 300 stock numbers a day to keep this superconductive property, update a list of just 25,000 stock the memory is immersed in liquid numbers. In addition, two clerks 10 -TON LOAD OFF THE NAVY helium at temperatures that are would have to cross -check for 50 The massive 15 -ton pile of maps close to absolute zero.

32 ELECTRONIC AGE Summer 1003

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