Browsing by Subject "Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957"
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Item Oral history interview with Alice R. Burks and Arthur W. Burks(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-06-20) Burks, Arthur W. (Arthur Walter), 1915-; Burks, Alice R., 1920-Arthur Burks describes his work on the ENIAC and Institute for Advanced Study computers. He reviews his upbringing, education, and work experiences (mainly teaching) before joining the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1941. He then discusses his associations with J. Presper Eckert, John Mauchly, John Brainerd, Herman Goldstine, and others and their work at the Moore School. Various aspects of the ENIAC project are discussed in detail: interactions of project members, division of tasks, decision making processes, patenting issues, initial operation, and von Neumann's association with the Moore School and the ENIAC and EDVAC projects. There is a general discussion concerning the classification of general versus special purpose computers and computers versus calculators. Patenting issues concerning the ENIAC project are given particular attention. The Burks discuss the dispersion of ENIAC and EDVAC personnel at the end of World War II. Burks recounts his move to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, his experiences there, and his consulting work with Burroughs prior to accepting a faculty position at the University of Michigan.Item Oral history interview with Arthur W. Burks(Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-06-23) Burks, Arthur W. (Arthur Walter), 1915-Burks describes John von Neumann's contribution to the development of computers. In this context Burks discusses the ENIAC, the work of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, and the development of a computer at the Institute for Advanced Study.Item Oral history interview with Carl Chambers(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-11-30) Chambers, CarlChambers discusses the initiation and progress of the ENIAC project at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering. He recalls the conditions under which John Mauchly, one of the ENIAC designers, came to the Moore School in 1941, Mauchly's 1943 proposal to the Army for a computer project, the National Defense Research Committee's initial denial of funds because of its commitment to analog computing, and the start of the ENIAC project six months later. Chambers describes the interactions among the ENIAC staff, and focuses on the personalities and working relationships of Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. He recounts their conflicts with project director John Grist Brainerd, and the commercial interests they first envisioned in 1944. Chambers discusses John von Neumann's involvement from 1944 in the EDVAC project, the financial strains that accompanied this project, and the patent disagreement that led Eckert and Mauchly to resign from the faculty. He concludes with his views on the importance of the 1946 Moore School summer course, "Theory and techniques for design of electronic digital computers," now known as the "Moore School Lectures" in disseminating computer technology.Item 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.Item Oral history interview with Cuthbert Corwin Hurd(Charles Babbage Institute, 1981-01-20) Hurd, Cuthbert Corwin, 1911-Hurd discusses International Business Machines' (IBM) commitment to research in computer technology, IBM's support for academic research on computers, and his own work at IBM--especially on the IBM 701, 704 and 705 computers. He also describes John von Neumann and his contributions to the development of computer technology.Item Oral history interview with Eugene P. Wigner(Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-05-12) Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-Wigner talks about his association with John von Neumann during their school years in Hungary. He discusses their graduate studies in Berlin and their appointments to Princeton in 1930. Wigner discusses von Neumann's contributions to the theory of quantum mechanics, Wigner's own work in this area, and von Neumann's interest in the application of theory to the atomic bomb project.Item Oral history interview with Herman H. Goldstine(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-08-11) Goldstine, Herman Heine, 1913-Goldstine, associate director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) computer project from 1945 to 1956, discusses his role in the project. He describes the acquisition of funding from the Office of Naval Research, the hiring of staff, and his relationship with John von Neumann. Goldstine explains that von Neumann was responsible for convincing the Institute to sponsor the computer project. Goldstine praises von Neumann's contributions, among which he counts the first logical design of a computer and the concept of stored programming. Goldstine turns next to the relations between the project and one of its funders, the Atomic Energy Commission. He points out the conflict of interest of IAS director Robert Oppenheimer, who chaired the AEC General Advisory Committee, and von Neumann who sat on this committee, when other AEC officials discontinued funding for the project. Goldstine also recounts the problems that arose during the project over patent rights and their resolution. Goldstine concludes by discussing the many visitors to the project and the many computers (Whirlwind, ILLIAC, JOHNNIAC, IBM 70l) modeled after the IAS computer.Item Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-10-28) Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919-Eckert, a co-inventor of the ENIAC, discusses its development at the University of Pennsylvania and the interaction of the personnel at the Moore School. He describes the difficulty in securing patent rights for the ENIAC and the problems posed by John G. Brainerd, the first director of the project, and by the circulation of John von Neumann's 1945 First Draft of the Report on EDVAC, which placed the ENIAC inventions in the public domain. Eckert claims that von Neumann had an interest in keeping these ideas from becoming patented, and deaccentuates von Neumann's role in the development of the EDVAC. Eckert also discusses the ethical questions that were raised by the corporate funding of the University of Pennsylvania's computer research, and relates the reasons leading to his and John Mauchly's resignation from the faculty.Item Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, Kathleen Mauchly, William Cleaver, and James McNulty(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-01-23) Cleaver, William; Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919-; Mauchly, Kathleen; McNulty, JamesThe interviewees describe their experiences at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering in the 1940s. Eckert outlines disputes he and John Mauchly had with the University administration over the assignment of patent rights to the ENIAC, and disputes over other issues with John G. Brainerd, the first director of the ENIAC project. Eckert and McNulty share their views on John von Neumann's influence on the ENIAC and EDVAC projects. The group discusses the Honeywell vs. Sperry Rand litigation and the judgement against Eckert and Mauchly's patent claim to the electronic digital computer. They uniformly dispute the court's finding in favor of John V. Atanasoff's contribution. Other topics include: the use of the ENIAC in atomic bomb tests, and the programming and memory systems of the ENIAC, EDVAC, and UNIVAC.Item Oral history interview with James Pomerene(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-09-26) Pomerene, JamesPomerene describes his experiences working for the Institute for Advanced Study Computer Project as the first engineer to work on the electronic components in 1946 and as the project's chief engineer from 1951. He reviews the personal interactions and technical decisions that surrounded the project's development. He discusses the roles of John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine, the personalities of some of the project staff, and the aborted attempt to employ the RCA Selectron electrostatic memory tube.Item Oral history interview with Martin Schwarzschild(Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-11-18) Schwarzschild, MartinSchwarzschild describes his early training in automatic computing when he assumed the position of director of the Watson Scientific Computation Laboratory at Columbia University upon the resignation of Wallace Eckert. Schwarzschild describes the computational research he did there on stellar models using advanced IBM tabulating equipment. He next turns to his experience during world war II at Aberdeen Proving Grounds as an enlisted member of the army working on bomb blasts, and mentions work of R. H. Kent, L. Dederick, IBM personnel, John von Neumann, and other scientific consultants on the design of new automatic calculating equipment for the laboratories. Schwarzschild answers questions about the relationship between Kent and von Neumann. His final topic is the work during the 1950s he undertook on stellar interiors using the Institute for Advanced Study computer. He describes his experiences trying to use the computer for large scientific purposes, and recalls the reception of his computational research by the professional astronomy journals.Item 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.Item Oral history interview with Philip Thompson(Charles Babbage Institute, 1986-12-05) Thompson, Philip DuncanThompson describes his career in numerical meteorology. He discusses attitudes of the early 1940s, including those of Victor Starr and Jules Charney, towards the work of L. F. Richardson and the possibilities of predicting the weather numerically. He describes the Numerical Meteorology Project at the Institute for Advanced Study and the roles of Charney and John von Neumann in that project, partly from his first-hand experience there in 1946-47. Next he recounts the activities of the meteorology research group he organized at the Cambridge Air Force Research Center and the calculations they did in the early 1950s on electromechanical calculators and on an IBM 701. He describes the establishment of the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit in Washington, and his work there from its founding in 1954 until 1958. Thompson discusses the U.S. Air Force research center he established in Sweden in association with the work being conducted at the Institute of Meteorology at the University of Stockholm. He then recalls how he left Stockholm in 1960 to become associate director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. His interview concludes with some general comments about recent research in numerical meteorology and the revolutionary impact of the computer on meteorology.Item Oral history interview with S. Reid Warren(Charles Babbage Institute, 1977-10-05) Warren, S. Reid (Samuel Reid), 1908-Warren was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering and served as supervisor of the EDVAC project. He discusses the EDVAC, the personal interactions of the project members, and the effect of the project on the Moore School. Central to his discussion are J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly and their disagreements with administrators over patent rights, which led to their resignation and the founding of their own company. Warren discusses John von Neumann, the distribution of his 1945 draft report on the EDVAC, and its lack of proper acknowledgment of all the EDVAC contributors. He also discusses the University's patent policy, its effect on the project, and the inability of the Moore School to remain at the forefront of computer developments.Item Oral history interview with Stephen W. Dunwell(Charles Babbage Institute, 1989-02-13) Dunwell, Steve, 1913-1994Dunwell describes the development of data processing equipment at International Business Machines in the mid-twentieth century. He discusses early data processing and cryptanalytic equipment before focusing on the development of computers following World War II. In this context, he describes IBM's Poughkeepsie Laboratory, John von Neumann's contributions as an IBM consultant, and the IBM 701 and STRETCH (7030) computers.Item Oral history interview with Willis H. Ware(Charles Babbage Institute, 1981-01-19) Ware, Willis H.The interview is primarily devoted to Ware's work on the Institute for Advanced Study computer project in the late 1940s. Ware details the contributions of Jules Charney, John von Neumann, Herman Goldstine, and others. He discusses the division of tasks, interaction among project members, design considerations, the pace of work, and patent issues. Ware distinguishes between scientific and commercial computers, and compares the Institute computer to others produced at the time. Associations of the Institute with IBM, RCA, and other companies and with Princeton University is also discussed. Ware also relates his move to the RAND Corporation and RAND's activities in computing.