Oral history interview with Joseph F. Traub

Abstract

The interview ranges from Traub's upbringing and early education to his first full-time job at Bell Laboratories, but the bulk of the interview concerns his graduate education at Columbia University and his work at the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory. Traub devotes the first part of the interview to his family's escape from Germany in 1938, his education in New York City Public Schools, and his college education at C.U.N.Y. He then turns to his graduate education at Columbia University. In 1955 he became involved with computing at the Watson Computing Laboratory. He discusses the work environment at the Watson Laboratory in the mid-1950s and his own research on an IBM 650 after he became a Watson Fellow in 1957. Some Columbia faculty and Watson Lab personnel are mentioned, in particular, Wallace Eckert and L.H. Thomas. In 1959 Traub was hired by Bell Laboratories. He concludes the interview discussing the environment there and his work on optimal iteration theory.