IT Legacy Article Compendium

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

IT Legacy Article Compendium An IT Legacy Booklet March 2016 IT Legacy Article Compendium 1 INTRODUCTION – LOWELL A. BENSON, EDITOR Write a Book? How about an autobiography? Shortly after the Information Technology (IT) Legacy Committee was formed, Dick Lundgren began to write Legacy articles for the VIP Club newsletter. During the committee’s decade of volunteering, several other committee members have also written Legacy associated newsletter items. This booklet1 is a collection of those VIP Club newsletter articles. The first several articles are the history of the Legacy Committee as we felt our way through the quagmire of gathering documents and hardware artifacts and then cataloging them. So, to some degree, this is both a book and the IT Legacy Committee’s autobiography. This book complements our December 2015 ‘Article for the Month’. That too was a booklet: Measuring Success = Volunteer Hours; recapping a decade with summaries of over 100 on-line IT Legacy articles. I dedicate this document to James 'Rapp' Rapinac who passed away 23 January 2016. Rapp was a steadfast supporter of our legacy initiatives and a good friend. LABenson If you are using Adobe reader; clicking on any section in the table of contents will get you there. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction – Lowell A. Benson, editor ......................................................................................... 1 3 2006, First Year Articles ................................................................................................................. 8 3.1 March 2006 – Richard Lundgren ............................................................................................ 8 3.2 April 2006 – Richard Lundgren ............................................................................................... 8 3.2.1 Support for Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) at the University of Minnesota ................ 8 3.2.2 Email List Compiled for Retirees Interested in Legacy Project ....................................... 8 3.2.3 Interested Group in Arizona ........................................................................................... 9 3.2.4 History Sources besides Retirees – ................................................................................. 9 3.2.5 Legacy History Draft Website – ...................................................................................... 9 3.2.6 Memory Jogger Question ............................................................................................... 9 3.3 May 2006 – Richard Lundgren................................................................................................ 9 3.3.1 A Sexagenarian in the Family ......................................................................................... 9 3.3.2 “Common Roots” with NWA ........................................................................................ 10 3.3.3 Response to Memory Jogger Question ........................................................................ 10 3.4 June 2006 – Richard Lundgren ............................................................................................. 11 3.4.1 Legacy Website Taking Shape ...................................................................................... 11 3.4.2 Legacy Project Represented at VIP Picnic .................................................................... 11 3.4.3 Were You a Movie Star? ............................................................................................... 11 1 We have drawn a line through Universal Resource Locators (URL) that are no longer valid. ©2016, Lowell A. Benson Page 1 of 110 An IT Legacy Booklet March 2016 3.5 July/August 2006 – Richard Lundgren .................................................................................. 12 3.5.1 LM Corporate Legacy Initiative Team to Visit Eagan .................................................... 12 3.5.2 The Eleventh Commandment, almost .......................................................................... 12 3.6 September – Visit from Lockheed Martin Corporate Office ................................................. 13 3.7 October 2006 – Richard Lundgren ........................................................................................ 14 3.7.1 LM Eagan Legacy Presented to the Corporate Office ................................................... 14 3.7.2 More Career Summaries Needed ................................................................................. 14 3.8 November 2006 – Jansen and Lundgren .............................................................................. 14 3.8.1 Project Background – Bernie Jansen ............................................................................. 14 3.8.2 LM Eagan Legacy Website – Progress Continues Admirably ........................................ 15 3.8.3 Other great additions .................................................................................................... 15 3.8.4 Legacy the Website, or Legacy the Book? .................................................................... 15 3.8.5 Legacy of Patents .......................................................................................................... 15 3.9 December 2006 – Richard Lundgren .................................................................................... 16 3.9.1 Legacy of a Centenarian ................................................................................................ 16 3.9.2 Legacy of Legacies ......................................................................................................... 16 3.9.3 LM Alumni Network ...................................................................................................... 17 3.9.4 Something Missing in our Legacy ................................................................................. 18 3.9.5 Legacy of Flops (not ours) ............................................................................................. 18 4 2007, Second Year of Articles ...................................................................................................... 18 4.1 January – Richard Lundgren .................................................................................................. 18 4.1.1 A New Year of Legacy .................................................................................................... 18 4.1.2 It’s a Must-Read. ........................................................................................................... 19 4.1.3 Retro is IN...................................................................................................................... 19 4.1.4 Centenarian Identity Revealed ..................................................................................... 19 4.2 March – Richard Lundgren .................................................................................................... 19 4.2.1 Following the Philosophy of a Proven Leader .............................................................. 19 4.2.2 Legacy after One Year ................................................................................................... 19 4.2.3 Career Summaries Initiative ......................................................................................... 20 4.2.4 Oral Histories ................................................................................................................ 21 4.3 April – Richard Lundgren ...................................................................................................... 21 4.3.1 What are those things? What are they good for? How do they work? ...................... 21 4.3.2 Legacy Website Continues to Expand ........................................................................... 22 4.4 May – Richard Lundgren ....................................................................................................... 22 4.4.1 Legacy of International Programs– Focus on Norway .................................................. 22 4.4.2 Legacy Website Continues to Grow .............................................................................. 23 4.5 June – Richard Lundgren ....................................................................................................... 24 4.5.1 Major Meetings Drive Legacy Project ........................................................................... 24 4.5.2 Recent contributors to Legacy Website ........................................................................ 25 4.5.3 Additions/Corrections Welcome .................................................................................. 25 4.6 July – Richard Lundgren ........................................................................................................ 25 4.6.1 Volunteers Needed to Describe Patents....................................................................... 25 4.6.2 Recent Contributors to Legacy Website ....................................................................... 26 4.6.3 Legacy of International Programs – Focus on the Netherlands .................................... 26 4.7 September – Richard Lundgren ............................................................................................ 28 4.7.1 Good Progress on Patents ............................................................................................ 28 ©2016, Lowell A. Benson Page 2 of 110 An IT Legacy Booklet March 2016 4.7.2 Recent Contributors to Legacy Website ....................................................................... 28 4.7.3 Legacy of International
Recommended publications
  • Aircraft Propellers
    U.S. WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A E R 0 N A U T I C S Part 27 - Aircraft Propellers Compiled from the INDEX OF AERONAUTICS of the INSTITUTE OF THE AERONAUTICAL SCIENCES 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York City The Index and Bibliographies have been prepared by workers under the supervision of the U.S. WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION Cecil A. Ross Senior Project Supervisor Project 465-97-S-S1 (Formerly 165-97-6055) 19 3 7 FOREWORD This bibliography is one of a series which aims to cover a large part of aeronautical literature. It is pub­ lished by the U. S. Works Progress Administration Project 465-97-3-21 (formerly 165-97-6055) under the sponsorship of the New York City Department of Docks with the cooperation of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. Request for Additions The Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences which is directing the U. S. Works Progress Administration staff of workers will appreciate receiving additional references, corrections and criticism, so that the bibliographies will be.more helpful when issued in final form. Request for Copies The bibliographies have been prepared with funds allotted by the U. S. Works Progress Administration. They may not be sold. Persons and organizations wishing to procure copies may apply for them by letter, stating the use for which they are needed. When it is possible to prepare additional copies such requests will receive first consideration. Robert R. Dexter Aeronautical Engineer Address all correspondence to: John R. Palmer Managing Project Supervisor U- S. Works Progress Administration 5111 R.C.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Science and the Instrument-Maker
    r f ^ Science and the Instrument-maker MICHELSON, SPERRY, AND THE SPEED OF LIGHT Thomas Parke Hughes SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY • NUMBER 37 Science and the Instrument-maker MICHELSON, SPERRY, AND THE SPEED OF LIGHT Thomas Parke Hughes Qmit/isoDian Ij;i^titution 'PJ^SS City of Washington 1976 ABSTRACT Hughes, Thomas Parke. Science and the Instrument-maker: Michelson, Sperry, and the Speed of Light. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, number 37, 18 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, 1976.-This essay focuses on the cooperative efforts between A. A. Michelson, physicist, and Elmer Ambrose Sperry, inventor, to produce the instr.umentation for the determination of the speed of light. At the conclusion of experiments made in 1926, Michelson assigned the Sperry in­ struments the highest marks for accuracy. The value of the speed of light accepted by many today (299,792.5 km/sec) varies only 2.5 km/sec from that obtained using the Sperry octagonal steel mirror. The main problems of producing the instrumentation, human error in the communication of ideas to effect that in­ strumentation, a brief description of the experiments to determine the speed of light, and the analysis and evaluation of the results are discussed. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's report, Smithsonian Year. Si PRESS NUMBER 6I41. COVER: A. A. Michelson and Elmer Ambrose Sperry. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hughes, Thomas Parke. Science and the instrument-maker. (Smithsonian studies in histoi7 and technology ; no. 37) Supt.
    [Show full text]
  • Elmer Ambrose Sperry Papers 1893
    Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Elmer Ambrose Sperry papers 1893 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Biographical Note .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 7 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 8 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Personal .......................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin
    PRES IDENT'S REPO RT ISSUE Volume ninety, Number two a November, 1954 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BULLETIN _ _I ___ I __ ~~~ Entered July 3, 1933, at the Post Ofice, Boston, Massachusetts, as second-class matter, under Act of Congress of August 24, 1912 Published by the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge Station, Boston, Massachusetts, in March, June, July, October and November. Issucs of the Bulletin include the REPORTS OF THE PRESIDENT and OF THE TREASURER, the SUMMER SESSION CATALOGUE, the GENERAL CATALOGUE, and THIS IS M. I. T. Published under the auspices of the M. I. T. Ofice of Publications __ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin PRESIDENT'S REPORT ISSUE Volume 90, Number 2 . November, 1954 _~1·_1__1_·_1 1--~111.1~^~-·~-····IIY·i The Corporation, 1954-1955 President: JAMES R. KILLIAN, JR. Vice-President and Provost: JULIUS A. STRATTON Vice-President and Treasurer:JosEPH J. SNYDER Vice-President for Industrial and Government Relations: EDWARD L. COCHRANE Secretary: WALTER HUMPHREYS LIFE MEMBERS WALTER HUMPHREYS RALPH E. FLANDERS DUNCAN R. LINSLEY JOHN R. MACOMBER JAMES M. BARKER THOMAS D. CABOT ALFRED L. LooMIS THOMAS C. DESMOND CRAWFORD H. GREENEWAL r HARLOW SHAPLEY J. WILLARD HAYDEN JAMES McGowAN, JR. ALFRED P. SLOAN, JR. MARSHALL B. DALTON HAROLD B. RICHMOND REDFIELD PROCTOR ROBERT E. WILSON LLOYD D. BRACE GODPREY L. CABOT DONALD F. CARPENTER THOMAS D'A. BROPHY BRADLEY DEWEY HORACE S. FORD WILLIAM A. COOLIDGE FRANCIS J. CHESTERMAN GEORGE A. SLOAN MERVIN J. KELLY VANNEVAR BUSH WALTER J. BEADLE ROBERT T. HASLAM WILLIAM EMERSON B. EDWIN HUTCHINSON RALPH LOWELL IRVING W.
    [Show full text]
  • Article, the Extravagantly Named German Scien- at Different Constant Velocities
    PaRT I: gyRoScoPES aNd aLBERT EINSTEIN FRoM ThE IoN hISToRIaN, MaRvIN May Elmer A. Sperry and the Gyrocompass His company became Unisys, the giant computer and informa- tion technology company, and his gyroscope-guided autopilot became known as “metal Mike,” the mechanical helmsman. lmer Ambrose Sperry was born a year accepted at that time. Although unable to Ebefore the Civil War began, but the gyro- demonstrate an actual north-pointing gyro- compasses, inertial navigators and voyage compass using his string-propelled gyroscope managements systems that stem from his (electric motors being unavailable at the innovations still steer our ships and aircraft. time), Foucault did establish the theoretical Indeed, few pioneers of navigation have left basis for the gyrocompass. as enduring a legacy. By the late 19th century, iron ships had In 1880, the 20-year-old New Yorker largely replaced wooden ships, jeopardizing Elmer Sperry at age 27 formed his first company. By 1986, Sperry the integrity of the magnetic compass, which Corporation, a merger of all eight companies for 400 years had been the navigator’s most compass was an ingenious notion, several he founded to manufacture and market his reliable course indicator. problems presented themselves to Sperry and many inventions, had become Unisys, the The age of electrification began around others who were working on the same idea. giant information technology firm. the same time, when scientists such as Max- A 1912 publication of U.S. Naval Proceedings The brilliant inventor, engineer, and well, Faraday, Helmholz, Einstein, Steinmetz, outlines these challenges: entrepreneur held 135 patents and became and Edison advanced the theoretical and 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Zucchini Frittata
    Please cite as: Spinzia, Raymond E., “The Involvement of Long Islanders in the Events Surrounding German Sabotage in the New York Metropolitan Area 1914-1917,” 2019. www.spinzialongislandestates.com The Involvement of Long Islanders in the Events Surrounding German Sabotage in the New York Metropolitan Area 1914-1917 by Raymond E. Spinzia In order to assist the reader in identifying the large number of unfamiliar names and the dizzying array of events, a photographic gallery with a thumbnail biography of the participants and a timeline pertaining to the pertinent events of those years have been included. In 1908 Washington was considered a backwater posting by the major powers in Europe. Washingtonians, at the beginning of the twentieth century, had to contend with excessively humid heat in the summer coupled with the fear of typhoid- and malaria-bearing mosquitos from the swamps of the nearby countryside. Additionally, the city’s social life lacked the sophistication and glitter associated with Manhattan and the capitals of the major countries of Western Europe. Despite this, Germany appointed the shrewd career diplomat Count Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff as its ambassador to the United States. Von Bernstorff, who was debonair and likeable, had close ties to Long Island and a grasp of America’s culture, politics, and economic potential, arrived in the United States on December 21, 1908.1 His South Shore country residence, Hickory Hall, that he rented from Mrs. Thomas F. White was at Central Avenue and White Lane in Long Island’s village
    [Show full text]
  • Sperry Gyroscope Company Division Records 1915
    Sperry Gyroscope Company Division records 1915 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Sperry Gyroscope Company Division records 1915 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Note ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 5 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 6 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ......................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Labor's Love Lost
    SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Labor’s Love Lost: The Influence of Gender, Race, and Class on the Workplace in Post- war America A Dissertation Presented by Stephen Raymond Patnode to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University May 2008 Copyright by Stephen Raymond Patnode 2008 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Stephen Raymond Patnode We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Christopher Sellers – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, Department of History Nancy Tomes – Chairperson of Defense Professor and Chairperson, Department of History Herman Lebovics State University of New York Distinguished Professor Michael Kimmel Professor, Department of Sociology, Stony Brook University This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Labor’s Love Lost: The Influence of Gender, Race, and Class on the Workplace in Post- war America by Stephen Raymond Patnode Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2008 This project reexamines questions of labor history in the United States. It traces the story of people who worked for three large defense manufacturers in Long Island from the 1930s to the 1970s. Race, class, and gender had a profound impact on identity formation and decision making for the workers of Grumman Corporation, Republic Aviation, and Sperry Gyroscope.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcript of 801022 Hearing Re Geologic Issues in San Luis Obispo
    / i~ ÃM~~hZ CO~~SSZOH RZGVZATORY /~ gi7 Za M MaW af:. PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY (Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2) 10 22 80 PAGZS': 462 - j'up San Luis Obis o California MZN2i:6X 400 V'~ Ama, S.R. Hasi -'za~, D. C. ZOOS.4 Ta~ahaaa: (202} 5="4-2 45 8011 080 4Qf 0 463 p2 APPEARANCES: (Continued} On behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric Company: NORTON, Esq. 77 Beale Street in San Francisco, California 94106 cic I 'RUCEOn behalf of Joint Intervenors: VS DAVID FLEISCHAEER, Esq. cii REYNOLDS, Esq. 'OSEPH cia RICHARD HUBBARD, Esq. 4 8 1735 I Street, N. W. cv Washington, D. C. 20006 cv 9 On behalf of the State of California and 10 Governor Brown: LAWRENCE C. LANPHER, Esq'. HERBERT H. BROWN, Esq. cn 12'3 Hill, Christopher, and Phillips 1900 M Street, N. W. Washington, D, C. 20036 15, 16 17 1$ cn 19 ''n 20 l 21 C I ?2'3 24 25, A~EBsoi4 aK~ORi.NQ CCMP4i4Y. li4C L 463A CONTENTS Witnesses: Voir Dire Direct Cross Redirect Recross G. Frazier ) 472 H. Seed ) 4 S. Smith. ) J. B lume ) R. Edwards ) 7 8 N. Newmark ) 432 562 9 J. Knight ) 10 P. Kuo ) 11. R. Rothman ) 12 13 i J. Brune ) 599 G.. Young. )s 608 EXHZBZTS / For Zn Number Zdentification Evidence 17'$ Governor Brown' 19, 471 R-7 4'72 20 '1 R-8 473 475 23 24 25 463B E X H I B I T S (Continued) For In Number Identification Evidence Joint Intervenor's R-10 508 W cv I R-11 525 41 R-12 610 7 R-13 611 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Financing Invention During the Second Industrial Revolution: Cleveland, Ohio 1870-1920
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES FINANCING INVENTION DURING THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: CLEVELAND, OHIO 1870-1920 Naomi R. Lamoreaux Margaret Levenstein Kenneth L. Sokoloff Working Paper 10923 http://www.nber.org/papers/w10923 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 November 2004 The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2004 by Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Margaret Levenstein, and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Financing Invention During the Second Industrial Revolution: Cleveland, Ohio, 1870-1920 Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Margaret Levenstein, and Kenneth L. Sokoloff NBER Working Paper No. 10923 November 2004 JEL No. N2, N6, O3 ABSTRACT For those who think of Cleveland as a decaying rustbelt city, it may seem difficult to believe that this northern Ohio port was once a hotbed of high-tech startups, much like Silicon Valley today. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Cleveland played a leading role in the development of a number of second-industrial-revolution industries, including electric light and power, steel, petroleum, chemicals, and automobiles. In an era when production and inventive activity were both increasingly capital-intensive, technologically creative individuals and firms required greater and greater amounts of funds to succeed. This paper explores how the city's leading inventors and technologically innovative firms obtained financing, and finds that formal institutions, such as banks and securities markets, played only a very limited role.
    [Show full text]
  • Sperry Boy." but by the Began the Golden Age of the Porations, Including the Sperry-Rand Time He Was a Farmhand Adolescent, His Telectronics Hobbyist
    HISTORY • Spe • Inventing the 20th Century by George Colpitts he last years of the 19th century an engineer, initiator of dozens of cor­ known as "that Sperry boy." But by the began the golden age of the porations, including the Sperry-Rand time he was a farmhand adolescent, his Telectronics hobbyist. Henry, corporation, and the dreamer behind mechanical aptitude and avid reading Foucault and Ohm might have modem avionics, gyro-compasses and joined together in a mind that in­ previously fine-tuned principles of truly closed-looped systems. novated, it seems, without coaxing. electricity and physics, but it was back­ With little education apart from the At 19, Sperry perfected the closed­ yard tinkerers such as Edison, Weston reading of 19th Century Scientific loop, or self-regulating arc lamp. A few and Siemens who hammered such years later he was perfecting mining principles into every-day life. Often machinery, developing street cars at odds with academic scientists, which· impressed the world, and wild-haired inventors and armchair delving into electro-chemistry. In science buffs experimented with the the 1890s, he patented a storage bat­ internal combustible engine for tery which drove an electrical car 87 cars, dangled from unstable miles (other batteries at the time dirigibles or killed themselves in charged for 30iniles at most). The elaborate airplanes. Store Sperry gyroscope, the searchlight catalogues and patent monthlies which lit up skies laden with World were crowded with contraptions War One Zeppelins, the gyro-com­ reflecting the come-hell-or-high­ pass, the automatic ship stabilizer, water determination of their and the automatic pilot for aircraft creators.
    [Show full text]
  • Feedback Control: an Invisible Thread in the History of Technology
    COREL By Dennis S. Bernstein he history of technology is a rich and fascinat- The Escapement ing subject, combining engineering with eco- For Mercury there is, beyond the correction at leap nomic, social, and political factors. Technology year, provision for a secondary correction after 144 seems to advance in waves. Small advances in years by setting the wheel M forward 1 tooth. In the ar- science and technology accumulate slowly, gument of Mercury there is an annual deficit of 42′5″, sometimes over long periods of time, until a so that the dial should be set forward 2/3° annually critical level of technological success and economic advan- with a residual correction of 1° in 29 years. Ttage is achieved. The last century witnessed several of these — Giovanni di Dondi, describing the proce- waves: automobiles, radio, aircraft, television, and comput- dure for maintaining his astronomical clock ers, each of which had a profound effect on civilization. completed in 1364 [Gimpel, 1976, p. 165] Woven into the rich fabric of technological history is an The Kelantese approach to time is typified by their co- invisible thread that has had a profound effect on each of conut clocks—an invention they use as a timer for these waves and earlier ones as well. This thread is the idea sporting competitions. This clock consists of a half co- of feedback control. Like all ideas, feedback control impacts conut shell with a small hole in its center that sits in a technology only when it is embodied in technology; it is not pail of water.
    [Show full text]