Vignettes of Sweden's Computer Graphics History
Vignettes of Sweden’s Computer Graphics History Thomas Larsson Ma¨lardalen University, Sweden Ulf Stenlund This article recounts selected historical events in the computer graphics field in Sweden, ranging from hardware construction to human–computer interaction. Particularly noteworthy are the industrial developments of semigraphical interfaces for improved man–machine communication, and the patented invention of a color graphics system by Ha˚kan Lans, which gave rise to several court cases. Throughout history, people have used dif- BESK ferent graphical means of expression. Some In 1948, Sweden initiated the National ancient examples are the Swedish petro- Committee on Mathematical Machines glyphs in Tanumshede and Na¨mforsen (see (MMN) to address the nation’s need for Figure 1). Although visual means of expres- calculating machines. Together with a group sion are as old as humans themselves, it was of skilled engineers, Eric Stemme created the the start of the computer era that elevated first Swedish electronic computer called the the importance of visual information to Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator, or entirely new levels. As one of the core BESK for short, which was completed in technologies enabling visual presentation Stockholm in 1953. Equipped with 2,400 of, and intuitive interaction with, all sorts vacuum tubes, it had a cycle time of 14 of data and information, computer graphics microseconds with 4 cycles for carrying out can be regarded as the catalyst for this an addition operation. Reportedly, BESK, development. What’s more, customer de- which found extensive usage for the compu- mand for faster computer graphics and tation of weather forecasts, was able to deliver advanced GUIs (in particular, 3D graphics a 3-day forecast in one hour of computation and games) has been a driving force behind time, whereas it took the ENIAC, in the US, the rapid development of the computing 24 hours to compute a 24-hour forecast.15 power and graphics capabilities in today’s Interestingly, from a graphics point of view, computers.
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