Argonne National Laboratory and the Emergence of Computer and Computational Science, 1946-1992
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of History ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY AND THE EMERGENCE OF COMPUTER AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE, 1946-1992 A Thesis in History by Charles Nelson Yood © 2005 Charles Nelson Yood Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2005 The thesis of Charles Nelson Yood has been reviewed and approved* by the following: Robert Proctor Professor of History of Science Stanford University Thesis Advisor William Pencak Professor of American History Chair of Committee Gary Cross Distinguished Professor of Modern History Rosa Eberly Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, and English Sally McMurry Professor of American History Head of the Department of History and Religious Studies * Signatures are on file at the Graduate School. Abstract This dissertation uses the Applied Mathematics Division (AMD) of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) as a window to explore the emergence of computer and computational science as independent scientific disciplines. The evolution of the computing activities at Argonne reflects broader issues concerning technology, identity, professionalization, and the social organization of science. While Argonne’s development of digital computer technology is a significant part of this story, I focus on the AMD’s efforts to integrate computers – and their attendant personnel – into the scientific process. In particular, the pursuit of "computational science" required that applied mathematicians be incorporated in all stages of science and engineering practice -- from problem formulation to the definition of what constituted a solution. Arguments for such a collaborative structure drew on Cold War rhetoric, debates within the mathematical profession, and issues surrounding the increasing quantification of the sciences. Simultaneously, applied mathematicians sought to define a new research agenda that balanced their duties to provide mathematical expertise to other scientists with their desires to conduct their own research. Despite the intentions of AMD directors, the interdisciplinary collaboration that computers were supposed to foster failed to materialize as envisioned. The emergence of an independent computer science, technological innovations, and the development of computer expertise by other scientists effectively limited the extent of collaboration. Beginning in the mid-1970s, though, the development of supercomputers, together with a new federal emphasis on high-speed computer networks created new opportunities for mathematicians, computer scientists, and scientists to work together. Impetus for collaboration was fueled by a number of different national concerns, including the Japanese Fifth Generation program, the need to support the domestic supercomputing industry, and pressures to make supercomputers readily accessible to American scientists. The federal government responded by creating the High Performance Computing program in the late 1980s, followed by the Grand Challenge Program of the 1990s in an effort to foster computational science – considered a third methodology, alongside theory and experiment, for doing science . Along with enabling computational scientists to tackle problems with broad implications for science, economics, and national security, another result was a significant reorientation of computer science research. iii Table of Contents List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………..….v List of Archive Abbreviations……………………………………………………………vi List of Pictures..………………………………………………………………………….vii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………..…viii Introduction: Computational Science Enters the Laboratory……………………………...1 Chapter 1: Building “Big Iron”……………………………………………………….... 23 From the Met Laboratory to Argonne National Laboratory, 1942-1948……….. 25 The Increasing Computational Load……………………………………………. 32 The Computer Section at Argonne………………………………………………41 The Move to Commercial Computers …………………………………………...56 Chapter 2: Applied Mathematics, “Hybrid Areas” and the Social Organization of Computational Science at Argonne National Laboratory, 1949-1975…………...68 New Opportunities for Applied Mathematicians…………...……………………78 The Social Organization of Computing At Argonne…………………………….90 The Drive for Disciplinary Independence………………………………………122 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...159 Chapter 3: Emergent Identities: High Performance Computing and the Rise of Computer and Computational Science……………..………………………………………172 Lessons learned: the Computer Science Institute and EISPACK………………177 The Technological and Social Context for Computational Science…………....200 The Fifth Generation……………………………………………………………216 High Performance Computing at Argonne: Computational Science Gains Momentum…………………………………………………………………...…239 The Federal High-Performance Computing Initiative………………………….267 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...278 Chapter 4: The Computational Science Machine……………………………………...286 The Computational Science Hierarchy…………………………………………291 Computational Science and New Research Priorities………………………….296 HPCC and the MCS Advanced Research Computing Facility…………………299 Summary and Conclusion: Computational Science and the History of Science………308 Selected Bibliography………….………………………………………………………326 List of Abbreviations ACF: Advanced Computing Facility ACM: Association for Computing Machinery ACRF: Advanced Computing Research Facility AEC: Atomic Energy Commission AECCAG: Atomic Energy Commission, Computer Advisory Group AFIPS: American Federation of Information Processing Societies AMD: Applied Mathematics Division AMP: Applied Mathematics Panel AUA: Argonne University Association AVIDAC: Argonne’s Version of the Institute’s Digital Automatic Computer CSCC: Concurrent Supercomputing Consortium CTD: Computing and Telecommunications Division, Argonne DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ECF: Experimental Computing Facility ERDA: Energy Research and Development Agency FCCSET: Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology HEP (DENELCOR): Heterogeneous Element Processor HPC: High-Performance Computing Initiative HPCC: High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative MCS: Math and Computer Science Division, Argonne NAML: National Applied Mathematics Laboratory NATS: National Activity to Test Software NDRC: National Defense Research Council NSF: National Science Foundation ONR: Office of Naval Research OSRD: Office of Scientific Research and Development OSTP: Office of Science and Technology Policy SCS: Scientific Computing Staff, Department of Energy v List of Archive Abbreviations AUA: Argonne University Association COHC: Computer Oral History Collection, Smithsonian Institute DOE Archives: Department of Energy Archives, Germantown, MD GLFRCNARA: Great Lakes Federal Record Center, National Archives and Records Center, Chicago, Illinois MCS Archives: Math and Computer Science Archives, Argonne National Laboratory NARA: National Archives and Record Center, Washington, D.C. NARA II: National Archives and Record Center, College Park, MD vi List of Pictures 1. Donald Flanders and J.C. Chu, p. 64 2. The ORACLE, p. 65 3. GEORGE-FLIP Computer, p. 66 4. Genealogy of Early Computer Systems, p. 67 5. AMD Org Chart, 1963-64, p. 166 6. AMD Org Chart, 1964-65, p. 167 7. AMD Org Chart, 1965-66, p. 168 8. AMD Org Chart, 1966-67, p. 169 9. Central Computing Facility, Applied Mathematics Division, p. 171 10. Service Desk, Central Computing Facility AMD, p. 172 11. The DENELCOR HEP Computer System, p. 282 12. Strategic Computing Initiative Program Structure and Goals, p. 283 13. The Fully Articulated Strategic Computing Program Pyramid, p. 284 14. The High Performance Computing Program Components, p. 285 vii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following institutions and people who made this project possible. Shortly after beginning my project in 1998, it became clear that the Department of History at Penn State University was reluctant to provide funding for research in the History of Computing. In fall 1999, I received a Mark and Lucy MacMillan Stitzer Program Support Endowment in History. This small grant enabled me to visit the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, where I began the preliminary research for my project. In spring, 2000, I applied for and received a newly created fellowship at the Department of Energy for the History of Computing. At the DoE headquarters in Germantown, MD I met Skip Gosling, the Chief Historian for the agency and the assistant historian, Terry Fehner. Although there was no set project in mind, they were excited by the possibilities of producing a historical account of the DoE’s role in computing and seemed excited by my ideas and enthusiasm. I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude, for without their support it is unlikely that I would have continued in my graduate program. The DoE fellowship was the brainchild of Jim Corones of the Krell Institute in Ames, Iowa. Dr. Corones had been a computational physicist at the National Laboratory in Ames and was keenly interested in producing a scholarly account of the emergence of computational science. It was his suggestion that I focus on Argonne National Laboratory because of its long history of computer use, plus the fact that many of the computer pioneers from the lab were still alive and willing to be interviewed. It was Jim who first brought it to my attention that computer science and computational science, although closely related, were two distinct entities.