International History of Computing © Edward Vanhoutte - 1 International History of Computing a Selective Overview (1614-1961)
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1 Oral History Interview with Brian Randell January 7, 2021 Via Zoom
Oral History Interview with Brian Randell January 7, 2021 Via Zoom Conducted by William Aspray Charles Babbage Institute 1 Abstract Brian Randell tells about his upbringing and his work at English Electric, IBM, and Newcastle University. The primary topic of the interview is his work in the history of computing. He discusses his discovery of the Irish computer pioneer Percy Ludgate, the preparation of his edited volume The Origins of Digital Computers, various lectures he has given on the history of computing, his PhD supervision of Martin Campbell-Kelly, the Computer History Museum, his contribution to the second edition of A Computer Perspective, and his involvement in making public the World War 2 Bletchley Park Colossus code- breaking machines, among other topics. This interview is part of a series of interviews on the early history of the history of computing. Keywords: English Electric, IBM, Newcastle University, Bletchley Park, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Computer History Museum, Jim Horning, Gwen Bell, Gordon Bell, Enigma machine, Curta (calculating device), Charles and Ray Eames, I. Bernard Cohen, Charles Babbage, Percy Ludgate. 2 Aspray: This is an interview on the 7th of January 2021 with Brian Randell. The interviewer is William Aspray. We’re doing this interview via Zoom. Brian, could you briefly talk about when and where you were born, a little bit about your growing up and your interests during that time, all the way through your formal education? Randell: Ok. I was born in 1936 in Cardiff, Wales. Went to school, high school, there. In retrospect, one of the things I missed out then was learning or being taught Welsh. -
Technical Details of the Elliott 152 and 153
Appendix 1 Technical Details of the Elliott 152 and 153 Introduction The Elliott 152 computer was part of the Admiralty’s MRS5 (medium range system 5) naval gunnery project, described in Chap. 2. The Elliott 153 computer, also known as the D/F (direction-finding) computer, was built for GCHQ and the Admiralty as described in Chap. 3. The information in this appendix is intended to supplement the overall descriptions of the machines as given in Chaps. 2 and 3. A1.1 The Elliott 152 Work on the MRS5 contract at Borehamwood began in October 1946 and was essen- tially finished in 1950. Novel target-tracking radar was at the heart of the project, the radar being synchronized to the computer’s clock. In his enthusiasm for perfecting the radar technology, John Coales seems to have spent little time on what we would now call an overall systems design. When Harry Carpenter joined the staff of the Computing Division at Borehamwood on 1 January 1949, he recalls that nobody had yet defined the way in which the control program, running on the 152 computer, would interface with guns and radar. Furthermore, nobody yet appeared to be working on the computational algorithms necessary for three-dimensional trajectory predic- tion. As for the guns that the MRS5 system was intended to control, not even the basic ballistics parameters seemed to be known with any accuracy at Borehamwood [1, 2]. A1.1.1 Communication and Data-Rate The physical separation, between radar in the Borehamwood car park and digital computer in the laboratory, necessitated an interconnecting cable of about 150 m in length. -
Information Technology 3 and 4/1998. Emerging
OCCASION This publication has been made available to the public on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. DISCLAIMER This document has been produced without formal United Nations editing. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrialized” and “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. FAIR USE POLICY Any part of this publication may be quoted and referenced for educational and research purposes without additional permission from UNIDO. However, those who make use of quoting and referencing this publication are requested to follow the Fair Use Policy of giving due credit to UNIDO. CONTACT Please contact [email protected] for further information concerning UNIDO publications. For more information about UNIDO, please visit us at www.unido.org UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 300, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 26026-0 · www.unido.org · [email protected] EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SERIES 3 and 4/1998 Information Technology UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna, 2000 EMERGING TO OUR READERS TECHNOLOGY SERIES Of special interest in this issue of Emerging Technology Series: Information T~chn~~ogy is the focus on a meeting that took INFORMATION place from 2n to 4 November 1998, in Bangalore, India. -
The State of Digital Computer Technology in Europe, 1961
This report indicates the level of computer development and application in each of the thirty countries of Europe, most of which were recently visited by the author The State Of Digital Computer Technology In Europe By NELSON M. BLACHMAN Digital computers are now in use in practically every Communist Countries country in Europe, though in some there are still very few U. S. S.R. A very thorough account of Soviet com- and these are of foreign manufacture. Such machines have puter work is given in the report edited by Willis Ware [3]. been built in sixteen European countries, of which seven To Ware's collection of Russian machines can be added a are producing them commercially. The map above shows computer at the Moscow Power Institute, a school for the the computer geography of Europe and the Near East. It is training of heavy-current electrical engineers (Figure 1). somewhat difficult to rank the countries on a one-dimen- It is described as having a speed of 25,000 fixed-point sional scale both because of the many-faceted nature of the operations or five to seven thousand floating-point oper- computer field and because their populations differ widely ations per second, a word length of 20 or 40 bits, and a in size. Nevertheh~ss, Great Britain clearly comes first 4096-word ferrite-core memory, supplemented by a fixed (after the U. S.). She is followed by (West) Germany, the 256-word store on paper printed with condensers plus a U. S. S. R., France, and Japan. Much useful information on 50,000-word magnetic-tape store. -
Timeline of Computer History
Timeline of Computer History By Year By Category Search AI & Robotics (55) Computers (145)(145) Graphics & Games (48) Memory & Storage (61) Networking & The Popular Culture (50) Software & Languages (60) Bell Laboratories scientist 1937 George Stibitz uses relays for a Hewlett-Packard is founded demonstration adder 1939 Hewlett and Packard in their garage workshop “Model K” Adder David Packard and Bill Hewlett found their company in a Alto, California garage. Their first product, the HP 200A A Called the “Model K” Adder because he built it on his Oscillator, rapidly became a popular piece of test equipm “Kitchen” table, this simple demonstration circuit provides for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the 2 proof of concept for applying Boolean logic to the design of model to test recording equipment and speaker systems computers, resulting in construction of the relay-based Model the 12 specially equipped theatres that showed the movie I Complex Calculator in 1939. That same year in Germany, “Fantasia” in 1940. engineer Konrad Zuse built his Z2 computer, also using telephone company relays. The Complex Number Calculat 1940 Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3 (CNC) is completed Computer 1941 The Zuse Z3 Computer The Z3, an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere, uses 2,300 relays, performs floating point binary arithmetic, and has a 22-bit word length. The Z3 was used for aerodynamic calculations but was destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin in late 1943. Zuse later supervised a reconstruction of the Z3 in the 1960s, which is currently on Operator at Complex Number Calculator (CNC) display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. -
TCM Report, Summer
Board of Directors Corporate Donors Contributing Members John William Poduska. Sr. Benefactor-$lO.ooo or more Pathway Design. Inc. Patron-$SOO or more Chairman and CEO AFIPS. Inc." PC Magazine Anonymous. Ray Duncan. Tom Eggers. Belmont Computer. Inc. American Exr.ress Foundation Peat. Marwick. Mitchell & Co. Alan E. Frisbie. Tom and Rosemarie American Te ephone & Telegraph Co." Pell. Rudman. Inc. Hall. Andrew Lavien. Nicholas and Gwen Bell. President Apollo Computer. Inc." Pencept. Inc. Nancy Petti nella. Paul R. Pierce. The Computer Museum Bank of America" Polese-Clancy. Inc. Jonathan Rotenberg. Oliver and Kitty Erich Bloch The Boston Globe" Price Waterhouse Selfridge. J. Michael Storie. Bob National Science Foundation ComputerLand" Project Software & Development. Inc. Whelan. Leo R. Yochim Control Data Corporation" Shawmut Corporation David Donaldson Data General Corporation" Standard Oil Corporation Sponsor-$250 Ropes and Gray Digital Equipment Corporation" Teradyne Hewlett-Packard Warner & Stackpole Isaac Auerbach. G. C . Beldon. Jr .. Sydney Fernbach Philip D. Brooke. Richard J. Clayton. Computer Consultant International Data Group" XRE Corporation International Business Machines. Inc." " Contributed to the Capital Campaign Richard Corben. Howard E. Cox. Jr .. C. Lester Hogan The MITRE Corporation" Lucien and Catherine Dimino. Philip H. Fairchild Camera and Instrument NEC Corporation" Darn. Dan L. Eisner. Bob O. Evans. Corporation Raytheon Company Branko Gerovac. Dr. Roberto Guatelli. Sanders Associates M. Ernest Huber. Lawrence J. Kilgallen. Arthur Humphreys The Travelers Companies Core Members Martin Kirkpatrick. Marian Kowalski. ICL Wang Laboratories. Inc." Raymond Kurzweil. Michael Levitt. Carl Theodore G. Johnson Harlan E. and Lois Anderson Machover. Julius Marcus. Joe W .. Charles and Constance Bachman Matthews. Tron McConnell. -
United States District Court District of Massachusetts
Case 1:16-cv-11613-RGS Document 51 Filed 02/14/17 Page 1 of 28 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS CIVIL ACTION NO. 16-11613-RGS EGENERA, INC. v. CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS February 14, 2017 STEARNS, D.J. The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error, is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself. This desire has led to the design and construction of a variety of aids to calculation, beginning with groups of small objects, such as pebbles, first used loosely, later as counters on ruled boards, and later still as beads mounted on wires fixed in a frame, as in the abacus. ─ Howard Aiken, father of the Mark I IBM computer1 Beginning with the invention by Blaise Pascal of the mechanical calculator, and culminating in our times with the integrated circuit-based computer, the ability of modern computers to aid human beings in performing tasks requiring the processing of large amounts of data has, as 1 In Zenon W. Pylyshyn & Liam J. Bannon, Perspectives on the Computer Revolution (1989). Case 1:16-cv-11613-RGS Document 51 Filed 02/14/17 Page 2 of 28 Gordon Moore predicted, grown exponentially as transistors have miniaturized, while doubling in capacity roughly every eighteen months since 1965. In 1874, Frank Stephen Baldwin was granted the first American patent (No. 153,522) for a calculating machine, the arithmometer. The number of “calculator patents” granted since is impossible to estimate accurately, but certainly runs to the hundreds of thousands. -
Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing
Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing Contributions to the History of Mathematics and Information Technology by Herbert Bruderer Numerous recent discoveries of rare historical analog and digital calculators and previously unknown texts, drawings, and pictures from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and France. Worldwide, multilingual bibliography regarding the history of computer science with over 3000 entries. 12 step-by-step set of instructions for the operation of historical analog and digital calculating devices. 75 comparative overviews in tabular form. 200 illustrations. 20 comprehensive lists. 7 timelines of computer history. Published by de Gruyter Oldenbourg. Berlin/Boston 2015, xxxii, 820 pages, 119.95 Euro. During the 1970's mechanical calculating instruments and machines suddenly disappeared from the scene. They were replaced by electronic versions. Most of these devices developed since the 17th century – often very clever constructions – have been forgotten. Who can imagine today how difficult calculation was only a few decades ago? This book introduces the reader to selected milestones from prehistory and early history of computing. The Antikythera Mechanism This puzzling device was made around 200 BC. It was discovered around 1900 by divers off the Greek island of Antikythera. It is believed to be the oldest known analog (or rather hybrid) computing device. Numerous replicas have been built to unravel the mysteries of this calendar calculator. It is suspected that the machine came from the school of Archimedes. 1 Androids, Music Boxes, Chess Automatons, Looms This treatise also explores topics related to computing technology: automated human and animal figures, mecha- nized musical instruments, music boxes, as well as punched tape controlled looms and typewriters. -
Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records, 1915-1926, Undated
Loyola University Chicago ~ Archives and Special Collections UA1980.38 Dorr Felt Collection Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records Dates: 1915-1926, Undated Creator: Felt, Dorr (1862-1930) Extent: 1 linear foot Level of description: Folder Processor & date: Meredith Gozo, May 2012; Ashley Howdeshell, January 2013; Andrew Paddock, November 2014 Administration Information Restrictions: No restrictions. Copyright: Consult archivist for information. Citation: Loyola University Chicago University Archives and Special Collections. Dorr Felt Collection, Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Records, 1915-1926, Undated. Box #. Folder #. Provenance: Records transferred to Loyola University Archives in November 1955 by Raymond Koch, son-in-law of Dorr Felt and then president of Felt and Tarrant Mfg. Co. Separations: No separations. See Also: Dorr E. Felt Collection – United States Employers’ Commission to Europe, 1918-1920; Dorr E. Felt Collection – Railroad Strikes, 1916-1921; Dorr E. Felt Collection – International Trade and Labor Conferences, 1919-1921; Dorr E. Felt Collection – World War I, 1909-1930 Biographical Sketch Dorr Eugene Felt was born in Rock County, Wisconsin on March 18, 1862. At fourteen he began working in a machine shop in Beloit, Wisconsin. He moved to Chicago in 1882 and obtained work as a mechanic. A perceptive and skilled worker with an entrepreneurial spirit, in his free time Felt devised and constructed a computation device out of such crude materials as a macaroni box, rubber bands, and metal skewers. Felt called the machine a Comptometer. A mechanical calculator, the Comptometer was the first mechanical calculator to greatly improve upon the first mechanical computing device created, the arithmometer, which was first commercially distributed in 1851. -
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BEST AVAILABLE COPY i The pur'pose of this DIGITAL COMPUTER Itop*"°a""-'"""neesietter' YNEWSLETTER . W OFFICf OF NIVAM RUSEARCMI • MATNEMWTICAL SCIENCES DIVISION Vol. 9, No. 2 Editors: Gordon D. Goldstein April 1957 Albrecht J. Neumann TABLE OF CONTENTS It o Page No. W- COMPUTERS. U. S. A. "1.Air Force Armament Center, ARDC, Eglin AFB, Florida 1 2. Air Force Cambridge Research Center, Bedford, Mass. 1 3. Autonetics, RECOMP, Downey, Calif. 2 4. Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army 2 5. IBM 709. New York, New York 3 6. Lincoln Laboratory TX-2, M.I.T., Lexington, Mass. 4 7. Litton Industries 20 and 40 DDA, Beverly Hills, Calif. 5 8. Naval Air Test Centcr, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland 5 9. National Cash Register Co. NC 304, Dayton, Ohio 6 10. Naval Air Missile Test Center, RAYDAC, Point Mugu, Calif. 7 11. New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York 7 12. Philco, TRANSAC. Philadelphia, Penna. 7 13. Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, Ohio 8 COMPUTING CENTERS I. Univ. of California, Radiation Lab., Livermore, Calif. 9 2. Univ. of California, SWAC, Los Angeles, Calif. 10 3. Electronic Associates, Inc., Princeton Computation Center, Princeton, New Jersey 10 4. Franklin Institute Laboratories, Computing Center, Philadelphia, Penna. 11 5. George Washington Univ., Logistics Research Project, Washington, D. C. 11 6. M.I.T., WHIRLWIND I, Cambridge, Mass. 12 7. National Bureau of Standards, Applied Mathematics Div., Washington, D.C. 12 8. Naval Proving Ground, Naval Ordnance Computation Center, Dahlgren, Virgin-.a 12 9. Ramo Wooldridge Corp., Digital Computing Center, Los Angeles, Calif. -
Alan Turingturing –– Computercomputer Designerdesigner
AlanAlan TuringTuring –– ComputerComputer DesignerDesigner Brian E. Carpenter with input from Robert W. Doran The University of Auckland May 2012 Turing, the theoretician ● Turing is widely regarded as a pure mathematician. After all, he was a B-star Wrangler (in the same year as Maurice Wilkes) ● “It is possible to invent a single machine which can be used to compute any computable sequence. If this machine U is supplied with the tape on the beginning of which is written the string of quintuples separated by semicolons of some computing machine M, then U will compute the same sequence as M.” (1937) ● So how was he able to write Proposals for development in the Mathematics Division of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) by the end of 1945? 2 Let’s read that carefully ● “It is possible to inventinvent a single machinemachine which can be used to compute any computable sequence. If this machinemachine U is supplied with the tapetape on the beginning of which is writtenwritten the string of quintuples separated by semicolons of some computing machinemachine M, then U will compute the same sequence as M.” ● The founding statement of computability theory was written in entirely physical terms. 3 What would it take? ● A tape on which you can write, read and erase symbols. ● Poulsen demonstrated magnetic wire recording in 1898. ● A way of storing symbols and performing simple logic. ● Eccles & Jordan patented the multivibrator trigger circuit (flip- flop) in 1919. ● Rossi invented the coincidence circuit (AND gate) in 1930. ● Building U in 1937 would have been only slightly more bizarre than building a differential analyser with Meccano. -
Die Gruncllehren Cler Mathematischen Wissenschaften
Die Gruncllehren cler mathematischen Wissenschaften in Einzeldarstellungen mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Anwendungsgebiete Band 135 Herausgegeben von J. L. Doob . E. Heinz· F. Hirzebruch . E. Hopf . H. Hopf W. Maak . S. Mac Lane • W. Magnus. D. Mumford M. M. Postnikov . F. K. Schmidt· D. S. Scott· K. Stein Geschiiftsfiihrende Herausgeber B. Eckmann und B. L. van der Waerden Handbook for Automatic Computation Edited by F. L. Bauer· A. S. Householder· F. W. J. Olver H. Rutishauser . K. Samelson· E. Stiefel Volume I . Part a Heinz Rutishauser Description of ALGOL 60 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1967 Prof. Dr. H. Rutishauser Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich Geschaftsfuhrende Herausgeber: Prof. Dr. B. Eckmann Eidgenossische Tecbnische Hocbscbule Zurich Prof. Dr. B. L. van der Waerden Matbematisches Institut der Universitat ZUrich Aile Rechte, insbesondere das der Obersetzung in fremde Spracben, vorbebalten Ohne ausdriickliche Genehmigung des Verlages ist es auch nicht gestattet, dieses Buch oder Teile daraus auf photomechaniscbem Wege (Photokopie, Mikrokopie) oder auf andere Art zu vervielfaltigen ISBN-13: 978-3-642-86936-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-86934-1 DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-86934-1 © by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1967 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1%7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-13537 Titel-Nr. 5l1B Preface Automatic computing has undergone drastic changes since the pioneering days of the early Fifties, one of the most obvious being that today the majority of computer programs are no longer written in machine code but in some programming language like FORTRAN or ALGOL. However, as desirable as the time-saving achieved in this way may be, still a high proportion of the preparatory work must be attributed to activities such as error estimates, stability investigations and the like, and for these no programming aid whatsoever can be of help.