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March 11Th Vannevar Bush unlimited: “lf the user inserted graduate programs and 5,000 pages of material a day, it computer science research. would take him hundreds of March 11th Licklider promoted the idea of a years to fill the repository.” universal network through his He predicted that “wholly new April 1963 memo addressed to Vannevar Bush forms of encyclopedias will “Members and Affiliates of the (pronounced “Van-ee-ver”) appear, ready made with a mesh Intergalactic Computer Born: March 11, of associative trails running Network” [May 1]. This and through them, ready to be other memos inspired his IPTO 1890; Everett, Massachusetts dropped into the memex and successors (Ivan Sutherland Died: June 28, 1974 there amplified”. [May 16], Robert Taylor [Feb 10], and Lawrence G. Roberts Douglas Engelbart [Jan 30] later Before WWII, Bush was known [Dec 21]) to fund the ARPANET said, “It just thrilled the hell out as the developer of the first [July 29]. electromechanical differential of me that people were thinking analyzer for solving differential about something like that.” Ted Another milestone was Licklider equations [July 23]. Claude Nelson [June 17], who coined and Taylor's paper, “The Shannon’s [April 30] Master's the term “hypertext” in 1965, Computer as a Communication thesis [Aug 10] on digital circuit credited Bush as his main Device” (1968), which described design theory was inspired by influence. possible features for the his work on that machine. impending ARPANET and other Bush’s memex ideas were kinds of human-computer Bush was also involved in the predated by the work of Paul interfaces. In the latter category, Otlet [Aug 23] and Henri La development of digital they proposed a device called Fontaine on their Mundaneum computers through his Rapid OLIVER (On-Line Interactive (1924). Otlet and Robert Arithmetical Machine project Vicarious Expediter and Goldschmidt had created a [Jan 2], which was unfortunately Responder), a computerized portable microfiche library in abandoned when the US entered personal assistant, named after 1925, and Emanuel Goldberg the war. Oliver Selfridge [May 10]. Their [Aug 31] had built a microfiche paper is illustrated with several search engine in 1931. amusing cartoons. Joseph “Lick” Carl Margaret Belle Robnett Licklider (Oakley) Dayhoff Born: March 11, Born: March 11, St. Louis, Missouri 1915; 1925; Philadelphia Died: June 26, 1990 Died: Feb. 5, 1983 Licklider has been called Dayhoff was a research “computing’s Johnny Appleseed” biochemist at the National Vannevar Bush (c. 1942). for having foreseen many of the Biomedical Research Photo by the OEM Defense. advances in interactive Foundation (NBRF) where she computing and networking. During WWII, Bush headed the pioneered that field's US Office of Scientific Research In the 1950's at MIT, he was application of mathematics and and Development (OSRD), involved in SAGE [July 26] as computational methods. For through which almost all head of the human factors team example, in 1966, she was the wartime military R&D was concerned with how machines first person to use a computer to carried out, including the and humans could work compare protein sequences and Manhattan Project. together. While working at Bolt, reconstruct their evolutionary Beranek, and Newman [Oct 15] histories. In July 1945, Bush introduced in 1960, he wrote the seminal One of Dayhoff's most important the “memex” concept, a proto- paper “Man-Computer contributions was her "Atlas of hypertext system, in “As We May Symbiosis” in which he argued Protein Sequence and Structure" Think” published in the Atlantic that the goal of computing (1965), a text describing all the Monthly. The system would should be to augment human known protein sequences of the consist of a mechanized desk intelligence. with a screen and keyboard time. It later became the basis of which could access all of a On Oct. 1, 1962 Licklider became the Protein Information person’s books, records, the first Director of IPTO, Resource database which itself magazines, and communications ARPA’s [Feb 7] Information became something of a template stored on microfilm. Storage, in Processing Techniques Office, for DNA and protein-related Bush’s vision, would be virtually which provided funding for new biomedical research tools. 1 In 2003, she was selected for the Draper later worked for Apple developing the original National Library of Medicine's on a telephony card for the Hitchhiker's game. 200 women physicians who Apple II [June 5] which could Adams later became an "changed the face of medicine." automatically dial phone “AppleMaster”, one of over numbers. and had a few phone- seventy celebrity spokespeople phreaking capabilities, but it for Apple products; others never shipped. John Thomas included John Cleese [Oct 5] and Draper also wrote EasyWriter, Richard Dawkins [Nov 15]. the first Apple II word Draper A quote: “I am rarely happier processor; he had the spare time (aka Cap’n Crunch, after the than when spending an entire for this project since he was breakfast cereal mascot) day programming my computer serving a prison sentence in the to perform automatically a task Born: March 11, Alameda County jail, and under that would otherwise take me a its work furlough program, he 1943; US good ten seconds to do by hand.” had access to a computer. In the 1960’s, phone phreaker Draper originally called the friends told Draper about a toy software TexWrite but changed whistle that was packaged in it to EasyWriter after a friend, Colossal Cave boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal. It Steve Sawyer, told him about the could emit a tone of precisely movie "Easy Rider" (1969) Adventure 2600 hertz – the same frequency Draper later ported EasyWriter used by Bell’s long distance March 11, 1977 to the IBM PC [Aug 12], but only phone lines to indicate that a had six months for the "Colossal Cave Adventure" (aka line was available to route a new conversion. The result was a ADVENT) was the first example call. This very useful Bell fact disaster, with the software being of interactive fiction and a had been revealed in a Bell Labs dubbed “Not So Easy Writer,” in precursor to the adventure paper published on [May 17] a review by PC Magazine. game genre. The player explores 1960. a cave system looking for Although they no longer serve a Experiments with the whistle treasure while avoiding death. practical use, the Cap’n Crunch inspired Draper to start building There are no graphics, just whistles have become collector’s "blue boxes": electronic devices beautiful text descriptions. items. “2600: The Hacker capable of reproducing other Quarterly” [Jan 12] is named The game was developed by Will tones used by the phone after the whistle's frequency. Crowther between mid-1975 company. In pre-digital days, the and early 1976 on a PDP-10 [Jan six main ones were: 700hz, 5]. It consisted of about 700 900hz, 1100hz, 1300hz, 1500hz, lines of FORTRAN [Feb 26], and and 1700hz. Douglas Noel 700 lines of data including text Draper was far from being the describing 66 rooms, and an first phone phreaker – Ralph Adams 193-word vocabulary that a user Roy Barclay [March 20] holds Born: March 11, could type. that title, but Draper became the ADVENT brought together two visible face of the sub-culture 1952; ?? UK of Crowther’s abiding interests – after the publication of the 1971 Died: 11 May 2001 caving and "Dungeons & Esquire article, “Secrets of the Adams is best known as the Dragons" [July 27]. Crowther Little Blue Box” by Ron author of “The Hitchhiker’s and his wife Pat were Rosenbaum [Oct 00]. This Guide to the Galaxy”, which experienced cavers, having probably led to his arrest on toll began as a short BBC radio helped to map the Mammoth fraud charges in 1972, but it also comedy series [March 8]. Its Cave in Kentucky in the early meant that he met and inspired 1970's. [Oct 17] Steve Wozniak [Aug 11] massive success led him to pen a “trilogy” of five books, a and Steve Jobs [Feb 24]. ADVENT isn't actually television series, several stage considered the first "Dungeons plays, comics, a computer game, & Dragons" inspired computer and a movie (that debuted after game. That's either "The he had passed away). Dungeon" [Dec 22], a PLATO Adams was the first person to [July 00] game, or "Dungeon" by buy an Apple Mac [Jan 24] in Don Daglow [Sept 12], both Europe – although the details of dating from 1975. this momentous event differ in A Cap'n Crunch Whistle. Photo In early 1977 ADVENT arrived different accounts. He first saw by 1971markus. CC BY-SA 4.0. at MIT, with enormous effect. one at Infocom’s [June 22] One local hacker later estimated offices in Boston in 1984, when that the game set the computer he and Steve Meretzky were industry back two weeks. 2 On this day in 1977, Don Woods, committed suicide by as the District Telephone a graduate student at Stanford, overdosing on anti-depressants. Company of New Haven. That began releasing updates to the Or had he? You are the Chief of company had set up the first game, mainly centered around Detectives, and have twelve telephone exchange on [Jan 28] fantasy elements based on his hours to crack the case. 1878, and printed the world’s love of J.R.R. Tolkien [Oct 14]. He first phone book. One amusing game innovation also introduced a scoring system, and added more by Infocom was the inclusion of ConnNet users could access “feelies”: physical items that services such as CompuServe treasures. Woods checked if his supplied more information and [Sept 24], GEnie [Oct 1], Delphi, changes were okay with clues.
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