Browsing by Subject "ERA 1103 (Computer)"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Oral history interview with Arnold A. Cohen
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983) Cohen, Arnold A.
    Cohen provides information about relations of Engineering Research Associates with the Navy, and with Remington Rand management after their acquisition of ERA. He also describes ERA projects in detail. Specific topics include: early research on magnetic drum storage systems, reports to the National Bureau of Standards, the Atlas I project and the commercial by-product (the 1101), the Atlas II project and the commercial by-product (the 1103), the 1102 built for Arnold Engineering Development Center, the 1104 built for Westinghouse/BOMARC, the Remington Rand Tape-to-Card Converter, the File Computer, ERA non-computer projects, ERA's design contract with IBM and its relation to the IBM 650, UNIVAC II, and patents and their defensive use in litigation.
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    Oral history interview with Carl Hammer
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983-04-15) Hammer, Carl, 1914-2004
    Hammer reviews his career in the computing industry, including his work for RCA, Sperry, and Sylvania. He begins with his entry into data processing at the Columbia University T. J. Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory and his work under Paul Lazarsfeld as a research associate at the Bureau of Applied Social Research. He turns next to his employment beginning in l950 at the Franklin Institute. He discusses the industrial applications of computers, and collaborations between the Franklin Institute and the government. From 1955 through 1957 Hammer headed the European Univac Computing Center. He discusses interactions with U.S. computer professionals, the peculiarities of installing computers in Europe, and the differing effect of computers on institutions in Europe and the U.S. He reviews Sperry's merger with Remington Rand and the changes in marketing and other operations after the merger. He cites these changes as his reason for leaving Sperry to work for Sylvania on his return from Europe in 1957. Sylvania's MOBIDIC computer and the ballistic missile early warning system are described in detail. In 1959 Hammer joined the Surface Communication Division of RCA. He discusses the in-fighting at RCA after John L. Hammer became president in 1960, the resulting demise of RCA's computer operations, and his own return to Univac in 1962.
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    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.
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    Oral history interview with Frank C. Mullaney
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-06) Mullaney, Frank C.
    Mullaney begins by describing his early life, electrical engineering education, radar work in World War II with General Electric, and sonar work with the Navy. He discusses the various projects to which he was assigned at Engineering Research Associates (ERA), especially the Atlas (ERA 1101) computer. Other topics include the ERA 1102 and ERA 1103 computers, John L. Hill, the acquisition of ERA by Remington Rand, J. Presper Eckert, and the formation of Control Data Corporation.
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    Oral history interview with James E. Thornton
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-02-09) Thornton, J. E. (James E.)
    After Thornton briefly describes his education, the interview focuses on the design and construction work at Engineering Research Associates on Task 29 which became the ERA 1103 computer.
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    Oral history interview with Marvin L. Stein
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984) Stein, Marvin L.
    In the first session of the interview, Stein discusses his early career and the formation of the University of Minnesota's computing facilities. After learning basic digital and analog operation during World War II, he obtained a doctorate in mathematics from UCLA. While teaching numerical analysis at UCLA, he also worked on missile simulation at Convair, Inc., in San Diego. After becoming familiar with the ERA 1103 computer Convair purchased from Engineering Research Associates, Stein made frequent consultant visits to ERA headquarters in Minnesota. In 1955, the University of Minnesota hired Stein to introduce their first computer courses and administer ERA's gift of free computer time. He describes early computer applications to crystallography and low-energy electron scattering, and the policy he established for the computer center to make users self-sufficient programmers. Stein reviews the growth of the Computer Center: the acquisition of an ERA 1103 computer with National Science Foundation support, the construction and use of a hybrid computer out of the 1103 and a Reeves Electronic Analog Computer (REAC), and the purchase in 1960 of Control Data 1604 and 1700 computers. In the second session, Stein discusses the formation of Minnesota's program in computer science. He explains the rationale for his 1966 proposal for a graduate program in computer science and for the move in 1969 to a department of computer science independent from mathematics and electrical engineering. Stein reviews the curriculum that was intended to introduce students to a wide variety of applications so that they could introduce computer science into other disciplines. Stein discusses the difficulties in hiring enough qualified faculty members, the relations between the computer center and the computer science department, and the state's attempt to bring all educational computing under the control of the Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium.
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    Oral history interview with Neal R. Amundson
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1995-06-01) Amundson, Neal Russell, 1916-
    Amundson, a leading member of the University of Minnesota’s Chemical Engineering Department, discusses the transformation of chemical engineering beginning in the 1950s into a mathematics-based engineering science and his role in its evolution at Minnesota. Comparisons with other leading departments, observations on relations with local industry, descriptions of hiring faculty in Mathematics, and the building up of Chemical Engineering. Description of early computers in chemical engineering, including IBM 602A punch, REAC analog computer, UNIVAC 1103, Control Data 1604. Interview includes comments by Leon Green and Donald Aronson, both faculty members in Mathematics.
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    Oral history interview with William C. Norris
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986) Norris, William C., 1911-
    Norris was a founding vice president of Engineering Research Associates (ERA). He later became head of the Univac Division of the Remington Rand before founding and becoming president and chief executive officer of Control Data Corporation (CDC) in 1957. Norris begins by describing his employment before World War II, his civilian career with the Navy, and his commission in the Naval Reserve. He then discusses his work with Communications Supplementary Activities-Washington. Norris' description of the formation and operations of ERA comprise over half of the interview. Topics include: the roles of Howard Engstrom, John E. Parker, C. B. Tompkins, and Northwestern Aeronautical in the formation of ERA; the influence of the Whirlwind project; government contracts held by ERA; magnetic drums; and contract negotiations with James Birkenstock of International Business Machines. In the second half of the interview Norris discusses the ERA 1101, ERA 1102, and ERA 1103 computers, the acquisition of ERA by Remington Rand, the Univac File computer, his work as head of the Univac Division, and the formation of CDC.
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    Oral history interview with William W. Butler
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984) Butler, William W., 1919-
    Butler begins with a brief description of his early life and education. He discusses his work on radar and sonar with RCA during World War II. He describes his decision to obtain a graduate degree in electrical engineering after the war and his subsequent employment with Douglas Aircraft. The focus of the interview then shifts to Butler's work with Engineering Research Associates (ERA). He recounts his start with ERA in sales under William C. Norris and his contribution to High Speed Computing Devices, and his work with John L. Hill and Arnold A. Cohen. Butler recalls the difficulty of selling the idea of the magnetic drum and his later engineering work on several ERA projects. He discusses product planning at ERA, including the 1103 computer, and later at Remington Rand. Butler describes the competition and cooperation between Eckert-Mauchly and ERA when both were divisions of Remington Rand and Remington Rand's corporate structure. He concludes the interview with a brief mention of Engineering Products Associates, Technical Systems, Inc., and Commbase, three firms he founded after leaving Sperry Rand.