Browsing by Subject "International Federation for Information Processing"

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    Oral history interview with Isaac Levin Auerbach
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1992-10) Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992
    Auerbach begins by discussing friction between himself and J. Presper Eckert and his reasons for leaving Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. He recounts the circumstances leading to his employment from 1949-1957 with the Burroughs Corporation, his relations with Irven Travis, who headed the computer department at Burroughs, and the formation of the Burroughs Research Laboratory. He describes a number of projects he managed at Burroughs, including computer equipment for the SAGE project, BEAM I computer, the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System, a magnetic core encryption communications system, and a missile guidance computer used for the Atlas missile. Auerbach comments on his management of the Defense, Space and Special Products Division, the general management of Burroughs, and his decision to leave the company. Auerbach outlines the establishment of Auerbach Electronics (later Auerbach Associates), one of the first computer consulting firms, and describes his initial contacts with RCA (for the BMEWS system), Honeywell, Leeds and Northrup, and Hot Shoppes (Marriott). He describes the growth of the company and other ventures such as Standard Computer Corporation (computer leasing), International Systems (data processing system for parimutuel betting developed with George Skakel of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation), and Auerbach Publishers, a successful venture that became known for its computer product reviews. He describes his concern with military and government contracts, the sale of Auerbach Associates in 1976 to the Calculon Corporation, and his subsequent consulting activity. He concludes with a discussion of his work with the International Federation for Information Processing, the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, and his philanthropic work primarily in the Philadelphia area and Israel.
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    Oral history interview with Julie James
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2013-11-20) James, Julie
    In November 2013, CBI director Tom Misa conducted a series of oral history interviews with 13 former employees of Control Data Australia (1963-89) including the details of each person’s career, before and after working for Control Data. Topics that are common to many of the interviews include Trevor Robinson’s key role in organizing Control Data Australia; the early computer sales in Australia to the Bureau of Census and Statistics, Department of Defence, Postmaster General, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Bureau of Meteorology, and several prominent Australian universities. Control Data Australia did business data processing for such large concerns as Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP), Telstra, and others. A distinctive emphasis was its work in developing computer systems for race-track betting for the state of Victoria’s Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) as well as for other Australian states and New Zealand. Other topics include relations with Control Data’s headquarters in Minneapolis, business data processing, data centers, database management, networking and Cybernet, and projects done in several Far East countries. Interviews were conducted with Richard Bament, John Baxter, Ron G. Bird, Tony Blackmore, Lyle Bowden, Marcel Dayan, Ian Downie, Julie James, George Karoly, John O’Neil, Garry Pearce, Rob Robertson, and Bruce Wilson.
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    Oral history interview with Louis Fein
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-05-09) Fein, Louis
    Fein discusses his involvement in establishing computer science as an academic discipline. In 1955 he joined Stanford Research Institute (SRI) as a computer consultant and was asked by Frederick Terman and Albert Bowker to design a computation curriculum. He describes the difficulty in establishing computer science's autonomy from engineering programs. Fein also describes his contacts with the University of California - Berkeley, the University of North Carolina, Purdue, and other institutions. He recalls his presentation on computer science departments at the 1962 Munich meeting of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), and how his plans were accepted at many academic institutions throughout the U.S. and Europe. Fein concludes with his views on the future of computer science, which entail a name change to "synnoetics" and a corresponding conceptual redirection to the interaction among intelligent beings, including humans and computers.