Browsing by Subject "Physics -- Study and teaching (Higher)"

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    Oral history interview with Friedrich L. Bauer
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-02-17) Bauer, Friedrich Ludwig, 1924-
    Bauer briefly reviews his early life and education in Bavaria through his years in the German army during World War II. He discusses his education in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Munich through the completion of his Ph.D. in 1952. He explains how he first came in contact with work on modern computers through a seminar in graduate school and how he and Klaus Samelson were led to join the PERM group in 1952. Work on the hardware design and on compilers is mentioned. Bauer then discusses the origins and design of the logic computer STANISLAUS, and his role in its development. The next section of the interview describes the European side of the development of ALGOL, including his work and that of Rutishauser, Samelson, and Bottenbrach. The interview concludes with a brief discussion of Bauer's work in numerical analysis in the 1950s and 1960s and his subsequent investigations of programming methodology.
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    Oral history interview with Robert V. D. Campbell
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-02-22) Campbell, Robert V. D.
    Campbell discusses his work at the Harvard Computation Laboratory and his subsequent career in computing. The interview begins with a description of Campbell's early life, through his graduate education in physics at Columbia and Harvard. He recounts how Howard Aiken chose him to work with IBM on the latter stages of design of the Mark I calculator while Aiken was on active duty in the Navy in Virginia. Campbell describes what he learned from Aiken about the plans for the Mark I in the late 1930s and the arrangement reached with IBM to build the computer. He assesses the relative contributions of Harvard and IBM to the Mark I project based on his own experience at IBM's research facility at Endicott, NY. He then describes the formation of the Harvard Computation Laboratory, the operation of the Mark I there, and the work beginning in 1945 on the Mark II calculator for Dahlgren Naval Proving Ground. Topics covered include the controversy between Aiken and IBM, Aiken's personality, Aiken as an educator, and Aiken's attitude toward the computer industry. The second half of the interview covers Campbell's later career at Raytheon (1947-1949), especially the search for adequate storage devices and RAYDAC installation at Point Mugu, CA; at Burroughs (1949-1966) in his position as director of research and in a staff position for program planning; and at MITRE (1966-1984) on long-range planning with the Air Force, and project work on a data processing system for the state of Massachusetts and the city of Newton, MA.
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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.