Oral history interview with Carl Hammer

Abstract

Hammer reviews his career in the computing industry, including his work for RCA, Sperry, and Sylvania. He begins with his entry into data processing at the Columbia University T. J. Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory and his work under Paul Lazarsfeld as a research associate at the Bureau of Applied Social Research. He turns next to his employment beginning in l950 at the Franklin Institute. He discusses the industrial applications of computers, and collaborations between the Franklin Institute and the government. From 1955 through 1957 Hammer headed the European Univac Computing Center. He discusses interactions with U.S. computer professionals, the peculiarities of installing computers in Europe, and the differing effect of computers on institutions in Europe and the U.S. He reviews Sperry's merger with Remington Rand and the changes in marketing and other operations after the merger. He cites these changes as his reason for leaving Sperry to work for Sylvania on his return from Europe in 1957. Sylvania's MOBIDIC computer and the ballistic missile early warning system are described in detail. In 1959 Hammer joined the Surface Communication Division of RCA. He discusses the in-fighting at RCA after John L. Hammer became president in 1960, the resulting demise of RCA's computer operations, and his own return to Univac in 1962.