Title Howard Aiken : portrait of a computer pioneer / I. Bernard Cohen

Published Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 1999

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xx, 329 pages) : illustrations Series History of computing History of computing. Contents The Names "ASCC" and "Mark I" -- Introduction to a Pioneer -- Early Life and Education -- A Harvard Graduate Student -- First Steps Toward a New Type of Calculating Machine -- An Unsuccessful Attempt to Get the Machine Built -- Seeking Support from IBM -- The Proposal for an Automatic Calculating Machine -- Aiken's Background in Computing and Knowledge of Babbage's Machines -- Planning and Beginning the Construction of the Machine -- How to Perform Multiplication and Division by Machine -- Construction of the Machine -- Installing the ASCC/Mark I in Cambridge and Transferring It to the Navy -- Aiken at the Naval Mine Warfare School -- The Dedication -- The Aftermath -- Some Features of Mark I -- Programming and Staffing, Wartime Operation, and the Implosion Computations -- The Mystery of the Number 23 -- Tables of Bessel Functions -- Aiken's Harvard Program in Computer Science -- Later Relations between Aiken and IBM -- Aiken at Harvard, 1945-1961 -- Life in the Comp Lab -- Retirement from Harvard -- Businessman and Consultant -- A Summing Up -- Appendixes -- The Harvard News Release -- Aiken's Talk at the Dedication -- Aiken's Memorandum Describing the Harvard Computation Laboratory -- The Stored Program and the Binary Number System -- Aiken's Three Later Machines -- How Many Computers Are Needed? -- The NSF Computer Tree -- Who Invented the Computer? Was Mark I a Computer? -- The Harvard Computation Laboratory during the 1950s Summary "Howard Hathaway Aiken (1900-1973) was a major figure of the early digital era. He is best known for his first machine, the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator or Harvard Mark I, conceived in 1937 and put into operation in 1944. But he also made significant contributions to the development of applications for the new machines and to the creation of a university curriculum for computer science." "This biography of Aiken, by a major historian of science who was also a colleague of Aiken's at Harvard, offers a clear and often entertaining introduction to Aiken and his times."--Jacket Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes English Print version record Subject Aiken, Howard H. (Howard Hathaway), 1900-1973. SUBJECT Aiken, Howard H. (Howard Hathaway), 1900-1973 fast Subject Computer engineers -- United States -- Biography Computers -- History Computer engineers Computers Computers. United States Genre/Form Electronic books Biographies History Biografieën (vorm) Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780262270533 0262270536 0585077991 9780585077994 9780262032629 0262032627

  Permalink