Oral history interview with William F. Miller

Abstract

Miller reviews his early career, including his work on the Argonne National Laboratory computer and teaching at the University of Chicago Institute for Computer Research. He then focuses on George Forsythe and his role in establishing a computer science program at Stanford University. Miller joined the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the Stanford mathematics department in 1964 and the computer science department at its formation in 1965. Miller contrasts what happened at Stanford with what happened at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, where other early computer science programs were started. Miller explains the relations of the computer science department to the computer center and the mathematics and electrical engineering departments, and how these relationships strengthened the university's computer science program. Miller also provides some details about the early funding of the department by the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation.