Browsing by Subject "Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory"

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    Oral history interview with Charles L. Critchfield
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-05-29) Critchfield, Charles L. (Charles Louis), 1910-
    The interview mainly concerns John von Neumann, whom Critchfield knew through his thesis advisor, Edward Teller, and through his work at Aberdeen and Los Alamos. It describes von Neumann's work on shaped charges; his work at the Ballistics Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland and his interactions there with Robert Kent; and his consulting work at Los Alamos, especially on the implosion device.
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    Oral history interview with Nicholas C. Metropolis
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-05-29) Metropolis, N. (Nicholas), 1915-
    Metropolis, the first director of computing services at Los Alamos National Laboratory, discusses John von Neumann's work in computing. Most of the interview concerns activity at Los Alamos: how von Neumann came to consult at the laboratory; his scientific contacts there, including Metropolis, Robert Richtmyer, and Edward Teller; von Neumann's first hands-on experience with punched card equipment; his contributions to shock-fitting and the implosion problem; interactions between, and comparisons of von Neumann and Enrico Fermi; and the development of Monte Carlo techniques. Other topics include: the relationship between Turing and von Neumann; work on numerical methods for non-linear problems; and the ENIAC calculations done for Los Alamos.