Oral history interviews

Persistent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11299/59493

CBI holds one of the world's largest collections of research-grade oral history interviews relating to the history of computers, software, and networking. Most of the 300-plus oral histories have been developed in conjunction with grant-funded research projects on topics such as the development of the software industry, the influence of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the early history of computer science departments.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 453

Oral history interview with Erwin Tomash
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1973) Tomash, Erwin
Tomash discusses his work with Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Topics include: the firm's management, the roles of William Norris, Frank Mullaney, and Arnold Cohen in ERA, Tomash's development of West Coast marketing for ERA after it became a part of Remington Rand, competition with International Business Machines, the development of Williams tube storage devices and core memories, and the ERA 1103 computer. He also recounts his move from Remington Rand to Telemeter Magnetics, later Ampex Computer Products, the formation of Dataproducts Corporation and its subsidiary, Informatics Inc., headed by Walter Bauer.
Oral history interview with John William Mauchly
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1973-11-13) Mauchly, John W. (John William), 1907-1980
Address given at Sperry Univac's 1973 Point of View meeting in Rome. Mauchly discusses his early use of computers at Ursinus College in weather prediction and his determination that calculators using vacuum tubes to function at much higher speeds were feasible. He recounts his move to the Moore School of Electrical Engineering and his failure to interest anyone other than J. Presper Eckert in his research. He explains how they were able to obtain funding to build the ENIAC, the first electronic digital calculator, only after proposing its use for ballistic calculations. Finally, he describes the funding of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation UNIVAC computer by the National Bureau of Standards.
Reminiscences of computer architecture and computer design at Control Data Corporation
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1975) Pagelkopf, Don; Moe, Robert; Lincoln, Neil R.; Krueger, Larry; Krohn, Howard; Kort, Raymon; Hutson, Maurice; Hawley, Charles L.; Grinna, Dennis; Bhend, Bill; Bergmanis, Maris; Alexander, Curt
Organized discussion moderated by Neil R. Lincoln with eighteen Control Data Corporation (CDC) engineers on computer architecture and design at CDC. Engineers include: Robert Moe, Wayne Specker, Dennis Grinna, Tom Rowan, Maurice Hutson, Curt Alexander, Don Pagelkopf, Maris Bergmanis, Dolan Toth, Chuck Hawley, Larry Krueger, Mike Pavlov, Dave Resnick, Howard Krohn, Bill Bhend, Kent Steiner, Raymon Kort, and Lincoln.
Oral history interview with William C. Norris
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977) Norris, William C., 1911-
Norris describes the beginnings of Engineering Research Associates and Control Data Corporation (CDC). He also discusses PLATO, CDC's attempts to improve economically depressed areas, and CDC's employee assistance programs.
Oral history interview with Elmer Trousdale
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977) Trousdale, Elmer
Trousdale, a lawyer from the Oppenheimer firm that worked with Control Data Corporation (CDC) on its lawsuit against International Business Machines (IBM), discusses the CDC versus IBM litigation.
Oral history interview with S. Reid Warren
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-10-05) Warren, S. Reid (Samuel Reid), 1908-
Warren was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering and served as supervisor of the EDVAC project. He discusses the EDVAC, the personal interactions of the project members, and the effect of the project on the Moore School. Central to his discussion are J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly and their disagreements with administrators over patent rights, which led to their resignation and the founding of their own company. Warren discusses John von Neumann, the distribution of his 1945 draft report on the EDVAC, and its lack of proper acknowledgment of all the EDVAC contributors. He also discusses the University's patent policy, its effect on the project, and the inability of the Moore School to remain at the forefront of computer developments.
Oral history interview with Irven A. Travis
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-10-21) Travis, Irven A., 1904-
Travis gives his recollections of the ENIAC project at the University of Pennsylvania. He begins with his employment at RCA, where he was before moving to the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1931. He describes his early work in analog computing: hearing about Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer at MIT and "borrowing" Bush's draftsman to build a differential analyzer at the Moore School for Aberdeen Proving Ground; direction of anti-aircraft fire control research at the Bureau of Ordnance; and membership as a Navy officer during World Word II on a National Defense Research Council task force on fire control at the Moore School. Travis then turns to his interest in digital computing, beginning with visits from John Mauchly at Ursinus College. He describes the ENIAC project, the technical and leadership abilities of chief engineer J. Presper Eckert, the working relations between Mauchly and Eckert, the disputes over patent rights, and their resignation from the university.
Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-10-28) Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919-
Eckert, a co-inventor of the ENIAC, discusses its development at the University of Pennsylvania and the interaction of the personnel at the Moore School. He describes the difficulty in securing patent rights for the ENIAC and the problems posed by John G. Brainerd, the first director of the project, and by the circulation of John von Neumann's 1945 First Draft of the Report on EDVAC, which placed the ENIAC inventions in the public domain. Eckert claims that von Neumann had an interest in keeping these ideas from becoming patented, and deaccentuates von Neumann's role in the development of the EDVAC. Eckert also discusses the ethical questions that were raised by the corporate funding of the University of Pennsylvania's computer research, and relates the reasons leading to his and John Mauchly's resignation from the faculty.
Oral history interview with Carl Chambers
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-11-30) Chambers, Carl
Chambers discusses the initiation and progress of the ENIAC project at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering. He recalls the conditions under which John Mauchly, one of the ENIAC designers, came to the Moore School in 1941, Mauchly's 1943 proposal to the Army for a computer project, the National Defense Research Committee's initial denial of funds because of its commitment to analog computing, and the start of the ENIAC project six months later. Chambers describes the interactions among the ENIAC staff, and focuses on the personalities and working relationships of Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. He recounts their conflicts with project director John Grist Brainerd, and the commercial interests they first envisioned in 1944. Chambers discusses John von Neumann's involvement from 1944 in the EDVAC project, the financial strains that accompanied this project, and the patent disagreement that led Eckert and Mauchly to resign from the faculty. He concludes with his views on the importance of the 1946 Moore School summer course, "Theory and techniques for design of electronic digital computers," now known as the "Moore School Lectures" in disseminating computer technology.
Oral history interview with Isaac Levin Auerbach
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1978-04-10) Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992
Auerbach recounts his experiences at Electronic Control Company (later the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company) in the period 1947-1949. He emphasizes the economic and practical infeasibility of the BINAC computer project for Northrop Aircraft. Auerbach also discusses the UNIVAC, including personalities, politics, and its technical features. The roles of the National Bureau of Standards, Northrop Aircraft, Raytheon, Remington Rand, and IBM are brought into a perspective relative to the development of the UNIVAC.
Oral history interview with Alexandra Forsythe
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-05-16) Forsythe, Alexandra I.
Forsythe discusses the career of her husband, George Forsythe, from the time of his Ph.D. in 1941. He studied meteorology at UCLA in preparation for a military commission. After the war he taught meteorology at UCLA, where he became involved with the National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC). In 1957, when the National Bureau of Standards closed its operation at UCLA, George accepted a position at Stanford University to establish its program in computer science. Forsythe recalls some of her husband's difficulties in securing funding for computer projects, the resistance he encountered in his attempts to sell computer time to the private sector, and his eventual success in establishing a well-funded program in 1965.
Oral history interview with Gene H. Golub
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-05-16) Golub, Gene H. (Gene Howard), 1922-
Golub discusses his career in computer science at Stanford University. In 1962, after working as a numerical analyst for the Space Technology Center, Golub was hired by George Forsythe for Stanford's new computer science program. Golub describes interactions and tensions between the mathematics department and new computer science faculty. He mentions the resistance Forsythe encountered in his attempts to increase revenues by selling computer time to private industry. Golub describes Forsythe's personality and his performance as an administrator.
Oral history interview with Albert H. Bowker
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-05-21) Bowker, Albert H. (Albert Hosmer), 1919-2008
Bowker discusses his role in the formation of the Stanford University computer science department, and his vision, as early as 1956, of computer science as an academic discipline. He relates the difficulties he had in convincing colleagues of his view, his success in hiring George Forsythe in 1959, and the creation of a Division of Computer Science in 1963.
Oral history interview with John Herriot
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-05-22) Herriot, John George, 1916-
This interview is concerned principally with the early years of computing at Stanford University. Herriot begins by discussing his postgraduate education at Brown University in the 1940s and his work experiences prior to joining Stanford in 1946. In 1952 Herriot was appointed the first director of the Stanford Computation Center, using a Card Programmed Calculator and later an IBM 650. He discusses the formation and funding of the Computation Center and its integration with the rest of Stanford. Herriot also discusses the formation and development of the Stanford Computer Science Department, centering on the role of George Forsythe. Affiliations between Stanford and private industry are also mentioned.
Oral history interview with William F. Miller
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-05-22) Miller, William F. (William Frederick)
Miller reviews his early career, including his work on the Argonne National Laboratory computer and teaching at the University of Chicago Institute for Computer Research. He then focuses on George Forsythe and his role in establishing a computer science program at Stanford University. Miller joined the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the Stanford mathematics department in 1964 and the computer science department at its formation in 1965. Miller contrasts what happened at Stanford with what happened at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, where other early computer science programs were started. Miller explains the relations of the computer science department to the computer center and the mathematics and electrical engineering departments, and how these relationships strengthened the university's computer science program. Miller also provides some details about the early funding of the department by the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation.
Oral history interview with Gene H. Golub
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-06-08) Golub, Gene H. (Gene Howard), 1922-
Golub discusses the construction of the ILLIAC computer, the work of Ralph Meager and David Wheeler on the ILLIAC design, British computer science, programming, and the early users of the ILLIAC at the University of Illinois.
Oral history interview with Edward Feigenbaum
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-06-12) Feigenbaum, Edward A.
Feigenbaum discusses the formation and growth of the Stanford University Computer Science Department and its acquisition of facilities. He recalls how IBM and Control Data Corporation replaced Burroughs as the university's computer vendor because of the need for large-scale computing. He explains his effort as head of the Computation Center to centralize all university computing activities, and the failure of that effort in the l970s with the introduction of minicomputers on campus. Feigenbaum also details the department's financing, including government support (ARPA, National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research), equipment donations from industry (IBM especially), and faculty salaries. Feigenbaum credits George Forsythe for the department's initial success in key areas such as numerical analysis, systems, and artificial intelligence, and hiring talented faculty such as John McCarthy.
Oral history interview with Antonín Svoboda
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1979-11-15) Svoboda, Antonín
Svoboda describes his research on computing in Czechoslovakia, France, and the United States. He begins by discussing his early career: his electrical engineering education in Prague, the differential analyzer he built for the French during World War II for fire control, and his work in New York for the ABAX Corporation on Bofort anti-aircraft guns. He explains how MIT became interested in his work on linkage computers for aiming guns automatically and describes the two-part linkage computer system he built for them, the OMAR and the Mark 56. On his return to Czechoslovakia in 1948, the Research Institute of Mathematics asked Svoboda to develop computing machines, and funded his visits to major digital computer projects. He recounts visits to Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1951 he began work on Czechoslovakia's first (electromechanical) digital computer, the SAPO, and its successful completion despite interference from the Communist government. He also mentions the EPOS computer he built in Czechoslovakia in the early 1960s. Svoboda describes his escape to the U.S. in 1964 and his appointment at UCLA. He concludes by assessing his greatest contributions: the use of graphical and mechanical means to teach logical design, the solution of multiple output optimization, and the Boolean analyzer (a parallel processing unit on Boolean algebra).
Oral history interview with A. Terence Maxwell
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-01-09) Maxwell, A. Terence
Maxwell recalls the associations among the major British punched card companies in the 1930s: Power-Samas, the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM), International Business Machines, and Remington Rand. He reports on discussions Powers-Samas had with Ferranti and Remington Rand on the 1958 merger with BTM to form International Computers and Tabulators (ICT). He discusses planning among ICT, English Electric, and Radio Corporation of America in subsequent years to capture European market shares and explains how these plans collapsed. He then discusses the 1963 merger between ICT and Ferranti and the 1968 merger between ICT and English Electric to form International Computers, Ltd.
Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, Kathleen Mauchly, William Cleaver, and James McNulty
(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-01-23) Cleaver, William; Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919-; Mauchly, Kathleen; McNulty, James
The interviewees describe their experiences at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering in the 1940s. Eckert outlines disputes he and John Mauchly had with the University administration over the assignment of patent rights to the ENIAC, and disputes over other issues with John G. Brainerd, the first director of the ENIAC project. Eckert and McNulty share their views on John von Neumann's influence on the ENIAC and EDVAC projects. The group discusses the Honeywell vs. Sperry Rand litigation and the judgement against Eckert and Mauchly's patent claim to the electronic digital computer. They uniformly dispute the court's finding in favor of John V. Atanasoff's contribution. Other topics include: the use of the ENIAC in atomic bomb tests, and the programming and memory systems of the ENIAC, EDVAC, and UNIVAC.