Browsing by Subject "Whirlwind computer"
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Item Oral history interview with Charles A. Zraket(Charles Babbage Institute, 1990-05-03) Zraket, Charles A.Zraket describes the Information Processing Techniques Office's (IPTO) interest in command and control systems in the early 1960s. He provides a perspective on the military expectations of computing that developed from the Whirlwind and SAGE projects. Zraket discusses the interaction between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the MITRE Corporation, and Bolt, Beranek, and Newman. He concludes the interview with an overview of DARPA funding trends in the 1980s.Item Oral history interview with Douglas T. Ross(Charles Babbage Institute, 1984-02-21) Ross, Douglas T.; Aspray, WilliamRoss, the founder of SofTech Corporation, recounts some of his early experiences working on MIT's Whirlwind computer in the 1950s. He explains how a summer job at MIT's Servomechanisms Laboratory operating a Marchant calculator led him to use the Whirlwind for greater computing power--and to seventeen years in the MIT computer labs. Ross reports on his first use of Whirlwind for airborne fire control problems. Soon after that the Whirlwind was used for the Cape Cod early warning system, a precursor to the SAGE Air Defense System. Ross describes improvements made to Whirlwind, including the introduction of the first light pen and the replacement of the paper tape reader with a photoelectric tape reader (PETR). Ross also discusses some of the programs he wrote or used on Whirlwind, such as the Initial Data Processing Program (IDPP), the Servo Lab Utility Program (SLURP), and the Mistake Diagnosis Routine (MDR). He describes the IDPP as particularly interesting, because it involved pattern recognition and was thus an early example of artificial intelligence research.Item Oral history interview with Fernando J. Corbató(Charles Babbage Institute, 1990-11-14) Corbató, F. J.Corbató discusses computer science research, especially time-sharing, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Topics in the first session include: Phil Morse and the establishment of the Computation Center, Corbató's management of the Computation Center, the development of the WHIRLWIND computer, John McCarthy and research on time-sharing, cooperation between International Business Machines (IBM) and MIT, and J. C. R. Licklider and the development of Project MAC. Topics in the second session include: time-sharing, the development of MULTICS by the General Electric (GE) Computer Division, IBM's reaction to MIT working with GE, the development of CTSS, the development of UNIX in cooperation with Bell Labs, interaction with the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, interaction with Honeywell after they purchased GE's Computer Division, and the transformation of Project MAC into the Laboratory for Computer Science.Item Oral history interview with Frank Heart(Charles Babbage Institute, 1990-03-13) Heart, FrankFollowing a brief overview of his fifteen years of experience at Lincoln Laboratory (including work on Whirlwind and SAGE), Heart describes his move to Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN) and how he became involved with the ARPA network project. As the manager of the project at BBN for over ten years, Heart discusses his relationships with the group at BBN, DARPA and Lawrence Roberts, and the host community. Some of the problems encountered and surprises in the development of the network are addressed by Heart, as are the changes he has seen in DARPA over the years of his involvement with them. This interview was recorded as part of a research project on the influence of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the development of computer science in the United States.Item Oral history interview with Robert Everett(2005) Everett, RobertThis interview with Robert Everett (1921-2018) begins with a discussion of his experiences pursuing BS (Duke University, 1942) and MS (MIT, 1943) degrees in electrical engineering. It then explores his participation in the Whirlwind and SAGE projects, with an emphasis on hardware engineering aspects and the role of engineers and engineering in the early computer projects. Everett also shares his views on early trends in computer design and development, the boundaries between hardware and software, and his movement into leadership at MITRE Corporation.Item Oral history interview with Uta C. Merzbach(Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-09-15) Merzbach, Uta C., 1933-Merzbach provides a brief overview of the history of electronic computing. She begins with the early projects in the 1940s that grew out of the need for advanced military technology, such as the ENIAC, the EDVAC, the Institute for Advanced Study computer, and the Whirlwind computer. She touches on the transition from military to commercial computers, with the UNIVAC of Eckert and Mauchly and International Business Machine's 650 and 700 series. She discusses early memory systems (mercury delay line, Williams electrostatic storage tube, Selectron tube, and magnetic drum) and how they were all superseded by the magnetic core in the 1950s. Merzbach also cites the development of FORTRAN, the first high-level programming language.Item Oral history interview with William C. Norris(Charles Babbage Institute, 1986) Norris, William C., 1911-Norris was a founding vice president of Engineering Research Associates (ERA). He later became head of the Univac Division of the Remington Rand before founding and becoming president and chief executive officer of Control Data Corporation (CDC) in 1957. Norris begins by describing his employment before World War II, his civilian career with the Navy, and his commission in the Naval Reserve. He then discusses his work with Communications Supplementary Activities-Washington. Norris' description of the formation and operations of ERA comprise over half of the interview. Topics include: the roles of Howard Engstrom, John E. Parker, C. B. Tompkins, and Northwestern Aeronautical in the formation of ERA; the influence of the Whirlwind project; government contracts held by ERA; magnetic drums; and contract negotiations with James Birkenstock of International Business Machines. In the second half of the interview Norris discusses the ERA 1101, ERA 1102, and ERA 1103 computers, the acquisition of ERA by Remington Rand, the Univac File computer, his work as head of the Univac Division, and the formation of CDC.