Oral history interview with Irven A. Travis

Travis, Irven A., 1904-
1977-10-21

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Oral history interview with Irven A. Travis

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1977-10-21

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Charles Babbage Institute

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Oral History

Abstract

Travis gives his recollections of the ENIAC project at the University of Pennsylvania. He begins with his employment at RCA, where he was before moving to the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1931. He describes his early work in analog computing: hearing about Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer at MIT and "borrowing" Bush's draftsman to build a differential analyzer at the Moore School for Aberdeen Proving Ground; direction of anti-aircraft fire control research at the Bureau of Ordnance; and membership as a Navy officer during World Word II on a National Defense Research Council task force on fire control at the Moore School. Travis then turns to his interest in digital computing, beginning with visits from John Mauchly at Ursinus College. He describes the ENIAC project, the technical and leadership abilities of chief engineer J. Presper Eckert, the working relations between Mauchly and Eckert, the disputes over patent rights, and their resignation from the university.

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Transcript, 37 pp.

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Irven A. Travis, OH 36. Oral history interview by Nancy B. Stern, 21 October 1977, Paoli, Pennsylvania. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

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