Browsing by Subject "IBM 650 (Computer)"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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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 Joseph F. Traub
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-04-05) Traub, J. F. (Joseph Frederick), 1932-
    The interview ranges from Traub's upbringing and early education to his first full-time job at Bell Laboratories, but the bulk of the interview concerns his graduate education at Columbia University and his work at the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory. Traub devotes the first part of the interview to his family's escape from Germany in 1938, his education in New York City Public Schools, and his college education at C.U.N.Y. He then turns to his graduate education at Columbia University. In 1955 he became involved with computing at the Watson Computing Laboratory. He discusses the work environment at the Watson Laboratory in the mid-1950s and his own research on an IBM 650 after he became a Watson Fellow in 1957. Some Columbia faculty and Watson Lab personnel are mentioned, in particular, Wallace Eckert and L.H. Thomas. In 1959 Traub was hired by Bell Laboratories. He concludes the interview discussing the environment there and his work on optimal iteration theory.
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    Oral history interview with Peter C. Patton
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2000-08-30) Patton, Peter C.
    In this oral history Peter Patton, Chief Technology Officer at Lawson Software in St. Paul, MN, and former Director of Academic Computing at the University of Minnesota, talks about his education at Harvard, his involvement in the development of PLATO courses in the humanities, and his perspectives on the software industry and patenting. Patton also shares his experience with IBM 650, CDC 6600, and Cray installations on several university campuses, his role in Project Safeguard, and his design of the Hennepin Justice Information System.
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    Oral history interview with Richard Vincent
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983-03-08) Vincent, Richard, 1930-
    Vincent reviews his involvement with computing from 1949 to the early 1970s. He relates how he first learned about computers in Air Force punch card operator school and ran IBM punched card machines during the Korean War. Vincent joined International Harvester after the war, operating an IBM 602A and later one of the first IBM 705 computers. He discusses the problems with the 705 and the field support offered by IBM. In 1959 Vincent joined Montgomery Ward, where he operated an early drum computer, the IBM 650. Vincent describes the difficulties of operating a drum computer. In 1961 Vincent joined Pillsbury, where he converted the company from an IBM punched card system to a General Electric 225 computer. He describes subsequent computer acquisitions at Pillsbury, including the 1965 acquisition of a GE 625, one of the early multi-processing computers. In 1969 Vincent joined Standard Computer Corporation, founded by engineers from the Call-A-Computer Division of Pillsbury, where he worked with Lazlo Rocozi on an IBM 7090 take-off, the IC 7000. In 1971 Vincent returned to Pillsbury and programmed the GE 635 in Cobol. Vincent discusses the problems of integrating different computer systems both within Pillsbury and with other companies. He concludes by discussing why Pillsbury uses GE (now Honeywell) instead of IBM computers.