Browsing by Subject "Norris, William C., 1911-"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Oral history interview with Arnold Dumey
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-10-09) Dumey, Arnold
    The Dumey interview begins with a description of his work for the Army Signal Corps during World War II. He discusses the development of a system for comparing data for which Eastman Kodak supplied a contrast reversal film process and Reed Research a reading device. He also considers some of the problems inherent in working for a secret organization. In the post-war period, he focuses on the contractual work done by Engineering Research Associates for the Navy, emphasizing their engineering excellence and the leverage that their competitive position gave him in his negotiations for the Navy with IBM. He highlights the roles of John L. Hill and William Norris in ERA, and contrasts the ERA 1101 with the Standards Electronic Automatic Computer (SEAC). He concludes with a discussion of the obsolescence of electrostatic tube and delay-line memory devices with the introduction of magnetic cores.
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    Oral history interview with Arnold J. Ryden
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983-03-15) Ryden, Arnold J.
    Ryden describes the formation of Control Data Corporation. He discusses his role and the roles of the other founders, especially Bill Drake and William Norris, in organizing the company and arranging the initial financing.
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    Oral history interview with Edward C. Svendsen
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-09-16) Svendsen, Edward C.
    Svendsen begins with a description of his early life and education and a discussion of his work in the Navy during World War II. The bulk of the interview concerns the relationship between Engineering Research Associates and the Navy. Topics include: John Parker and the management of ERA; the work of Howard Engstrom, William Norris, Ralph Meader, John Howard, and Sid Rubens at ERA; and ERA's projects for the Navy.
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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 Herbert W. Robinson
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1988-07-13) Robinson, Herbert W. (Herbert William)
    The Council for Economic and Industry Research, Inc. was formed in 1952 to perform operations research and model building for the U. S. Air Force. In 1953 Robinson took over the project, which was designed to identify strategic bomb targets in the Soviet Union based on potential economic damage. In 1954 a public company renamed C-E-I-R, Inc. was formed with Robinson as its president. Orchard Hayes was in charge of computer operations for the nascent software development and programming business. Robinson discusses C-E-I-R acquisitions Automation Institute, General Analysis Corporation, Data Tech, ARB (a television rating company), and C-E-I-R de Mexico. He talks about the establishment of C-E-I-R operations in London and the Netherlands and the subsequent takeover of these by British Petroleum. Robinson discusses the difficulties in managing an industry that had no history. He discusses the involvement of Robert Holland and George Dick from IBM, their attempts to direct sales of C-E-I-R products, and the loss of technical personnel. He discusses the early lack of competition and the later entrance of IBM into competition with C-E-I-R. He talks of William Norris' interest and the acquisition of C-E-I-R by Control Data Corporation.
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    Oral history interview with Hugh Duncan
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-08-14) Duncan, Hugh
    Duncan describes his engineering education and entrance into the Navy in World War II. He discusses his work at Communications Supplementary Activities-Washington and the events leading to the formation of Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Topics include: the introduction of John E. Parker to Howard Engstrom, Ralph Meader, and Norris by the financial brokerage firm of Auchincloss, Redpath, and Parker, the work of John Howard, the level of Navy involvement with ERA, research activities, especially regarding memory devices, and the management of the firm. Duncan reviews the management of the ERA and Eckert-Mauchly acquisitions by Remington Rand. He concludes with a comparison of the management techniques of Remington Rand and International Business Machines.
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    Oral history interview with James Henry Wakelin, Jr.
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-02-27) Wakelin, James Henry
    The interview covers Wakelin's career, including his education, work at the Navy Department and Engineering Research Associates (ERA), and later consulting work. The first part of the interview reviews his education at Dartmouth, Cambridge, and Yale, and his first job at B.F. Goodrich. He discusses his work in the Navy department during World War II, where he was involved with their first use of modern computers. Through this Wakelin came in contact with William Norris and others who founded ERA. Wakelin discusses his own plans to establish a consulting company after the war and his decision to join ERA. He discusses his work in ERA's Washington D.C. office from 1945 to 1948, where he was primarily involved with securing Navy contracts. Other aspects about ERA in the late 1940s are discussed, including his relationships with John Parker, C. B. Tompkins, and others. He concludes with a review of his later work with a textile institute affiliated with Princeton.
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    Oral history interview with John E. Parker
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986) Parker, John E., 1900-1989
    Parker discusses his career: his years in the Navy, acquisition of Porterfield Aviation Company, start-up of Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation, and especially the formation of Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Parker explains how his business brought him to St. Paul and into contact with the Navy, and how the Navy approached him to direct a new research company, ERA, to continue war-time work done for the Navy. Parker recalls his meetings with key ERA personnel, including William Norris, Ralph Meader, and Howard Engstrom. ERA's entry into computing is discussed, including contracts in 1948 with the Navy, Air Force, and National Bureau of Standards and negotiations in 1949 with IBM over a magnetic drum design. Parker recalls ERA's sale to Remington Rand in 1950 and mentions the 1950 publication of High-Speed Computing Devices. Parker's period as Vice President for Sales at Remington Rand and Sperry is the focus of the last third of the interview. From 1952 to 1956 he and his staff sought to expand the number of computers sold and to integrate sales of all types of automatic machines. In the second part of the interview Parker continues his discussion of ERA's relationships with other computer manufacturers including ERA's magnetic drum design agreement with IBM in 1950. Parker also discusses the acquisition and assimilation of ERA by Remington Rand, ERA's relationship with the Eckert-Mauchly Division of Remington Rand, and his own disaffection with Sperry Corporation's deemphasis on commercial computer sales after they acquired Remington Rand in 1955. Much of the interview concerns Parker's activities as head of the Electronic Computer Sales Department of Remington Rand.
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    Oral history interview with Molly Lou Reko
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-11-30) Reko, Molly Lou
    Molly Lou Reko grew up in Amarillo, Texas, and graduated from Colorado College in 1958 with a degree in math, then taught mathematics at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. After taking time to raise children, she attended master’s classes at the University of Minnesota (her husband Al Reko then worked for Control Data in Minnesota) in the early 1970s and became connected to the local Minnesota educational computing network TIES, or Total Information for Educational Systems. Her husband encouraged her, with the background in mathematics and teaching, to apply to Control Data. She went to work on the PLATO multi-media computer project. She describes several PLATO programming languages, learning activities or modules, and educational products. She developed PLATO content for the Control Data Institutes, describing William Norris and his deep enthusiasm for PLATO, then managed a group of two dozen PLATO programmers. She also relates her experience with Control Data’s emphasis on corporate social responsibility, including early hiring of women and minorities, as well as work on CDC microcomputers. She completed a master’s degree in computer design and development at University of St. Thomas. In 1989 Control Data’s PLATO division was sold to The Roach Organization (TRO), then in 1991 she went to work for Northwest Airlines initially doing corporate education with microcomputers then working on worldwide installation of computing resources for Northwest’s Airport of Preference system. She offers assessments of Datamation advertisements from the late 1960s. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Robert M. Price
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2009) Price, Robert M.
    These oral history interviews with Robert M. Price were conducted by Thomas J. Misa from February – July, 2009, and were originally published as a book entitled, Building the Control Data Legacy: The Career of Robert M. Price. The below abstract is taken from the book jacket. Building the Control Data Legacy gives a unique behind-the-scenes view into the Control Data Corporation during its ascent into the top rank of the computer industry. This detailed 15-part oral history starts with Robert M. Price’s work programming the first generation of computers in California. Then, in 1961, he joined Control Data. For the next 29 years, Price was in key positions as Control Data grew from a Minneapolis start-up into a multi-billion-dollar global company. Lively anecdotes provide an in-depth assessment of Control Data’s founder William C. Norris and his inimitable style. Of special note are Price’s incisive observations about corporate social responsibility and the “lessons learned” from a remarkable business career. Profusely illustrated with more than 80 archival photographs.
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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.
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    Oral history interview with Walter Leonard Anderson
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-09-11) Anderson, Walter L. (Walter Leonard), 1922-
    Anderson, who had been trained by the Navy at MIT and at the University of Minnesota, began working for ERA in 1946. He was hired by Joseph Walsh and worked with Howard Daniels, Frank Mullaney, and George Hardenbergh on engineering design problems. Anderson talks about a number of early design projects at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, including design of a relay control circuit and a time delay scramble. He discusses the influence that Arnold Cohen had on him. In 1949 Anderson moved to the Arlington office where he worked until 1955. He worked with the sales office as a technical liaison under Herbert H. Goodman. He worked on development of UNIVAC and the 1100 series, and he discusses some of the applications that he was involved in assessing and the technological constraints of the time. Anderson was also a liaison between the Minnesota group and the Pennsylvania group, and he discusses projects in which he worked with John Coombs, William Norris, William Overn, William Butler, Robert Torrey, Ted Bonn, and Herb Rickards. He discusses the change in operations when ERA was changed from a subsidiary to a division of Remington Rand. Anderson also discusses the establishment of General Kinetics, Inc. with Robert Gutterman, Al Roberts, Frank McKutcheon, and William Goggins. The interview concludes with remarks on the nature of their early consulting work in mathematics, engineering, and the film industry.
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    Oral history interview with William R. Keye
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1981-11) Keye, William R., 1921-
    Keye discusses the establishment of Control Data Corporation and William C. Norris.
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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.