Browsing by Subject "Naval Ordnance Laboratory (White Oak, Md.)"

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    Oral history interview with Calvin N. Mooers and Charlotte D. Mooers
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1993-06-22) Mooers, Charlotte Davis, 1924-; Mooers, Calvin N., 1919-
    Calvin and Charlotte Mooers discuss their association with information retrieval and programming language research from World War II through the early 1990s. Calvin Mooers describes his work in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) computer project and his decision to leave NOL for graduate school at MIT. He discusses his development of Zatocoding, an information retrieval system, after discussions with J. W. Perry in 1948. Mooers recalls the formation of the Zator Company in 1949 and his attempts to patent and market his system. He discusses how his frustration in the field of information retrieval led him to explore other interests and the shift in Zator's focus to research with the addition of Raymond J. Solomonoff in 1957. Mooers discusses the research advantages gained through the organization of the Rockford Research Institute, Inc. He describes Solomonoff's continued research in inductive inference (artificial intelligence), his development and attempts to market the TRAC programming language, and his work with Eugene Stuart Fergusson on ASCII standards. Mooers discusses his involvement with Data Concepts in the late 1970s to use TRAC to develop a software package that printed insurance policies. He recalls the company's dissolution in 1983 although the software, SIMPL!E, had been completed. Mooers describes his redefinition of TRAC into TRAC-2 and attempts to market TRAC-2 following his work with Data Concepts. The Mooers conclude the interview with a brief discussion of his current projects related to TRAC and writing vignettes on the history of computing.
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    Oral history interview with Sidney Michel Rubens
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-01) Rubens, Sidney Michel
    Rubens discusses his career through his employment with Engineering Research Associates (ERA). He reviews his education in physics at the University of Washington, his work in ionization techniques, and his teaching position at UCLA beginning in 1937. In 1940, he joined the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, where he developed magnetic mine detection devices. There he met Howard Engstrom, Robert Gutterman, Howard Daniels, and William Norris. In 1945, under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, this group formed ERA to continue their war-time work, and Rubens joined them in 1946. He first worked on magnetic techniques for computer storage as part of the Goldberg project, under the direction of John Coombs and C. B. Tompkins. Rubens discusses the magnetic tape equipment he used, some of which was war-time capture from German laboratories. He also discusses his contacts with the University of Minnesota computer center.