At the height of the summer vacation season, August is traditionally a "slow" month, but in terms of computer-related anniversaries it is not without its highlights, not to mention the birthdays of some of our pioneers.
The story of the dedication of the Harvard Mark I calculator, otherwise known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) by IBM, it one that could easily fill an issue of a journal. Howard Hathaway Aiken, designer of the Harvard Mark I was born 8 March 1900 and died in 1973. Aiken conceived the plans for a large scale calculator in 1937 and sought a sponsor and partner to implement his ideas as a machine to assist Harvard University researchers in their computational undertakings. He initially approached Monroe Calculator Company but they could not see their way to assist him and subsequently he modified the proposal to be more plausible to IBM -- a company whose major product was the card processor. Clair D. Lake was put in charge of the project with Francis E. (Frank) Hamilton and Benjamin Durfee. In January 1943, the Harvard machine was completed at Endicott, New York, and in December 1943 the machine demonstrated to members of the Harvard faculty. The machine was then disassembled and shipped to Harvard, where it was housed in a large basement room in the Physics Research Laboratory.
The dedication was to take place on Monday, 7 August 1944. The Harvard News Office, in close consultation with Aiken prepared a news release for the occasion, headed "World's greatest mathematical calculator" followed by the bold unqualified statement that: "In charge of the activity ... is the inventor, Commander Howard H. Aiken, U.S.N.R", who "worked out the theory which made the machine possible".
It is said that when Thomas J. Watson first saw the news story, he became so irate that he even planned to return to New York without attending either the ceremonial luncheon or the formal dedication ceremonies. Fortunately he had sufficient manners to call his intended hosts, and gave them the opportunity to persuade him to stay, which he did, and performed his part in the ceremonies magnificently. However this was the start of a rift between the university and IBM that lasted many years. As great a contribution to the development of computers as was the Harvard Mark I (ASCC), Aiken and Watson never really resolved their differences, Aiken refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement some years later when Watson's son provided the opportunity to make amends by hiring Aiken as a consultant.
The IBM ASCC or the Harvard Mark I was the first of a series of four computers associated with Howard Aiken. Mark I and Mark II were electromagnetic, using relays but Mark III and Mark IV had a variety of electronic components including vacuum tubes and solid-state transistors. Of the four, Mark I was the most memorable because it produced such reliable results and could run continuously for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The Mark III was the first computer to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
August marks the time when two other machines were unveiled. On 17 August 1950, the National Bureau of Standards dedicated the Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC) at the Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA, a machine built under the leadership of Harry Douglas Huskey. Born in 1916 in Bryson City, NC, Huskey was an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania during the later stages of the development of ENIAC, where he wrote a technical manual for the ENIAC and worked on the early logical designs for the EDVAC. In 1946, Huskey accepted a visiting position with the National Physical Laboratory in England. Based on his US experience, Huskey created the basic implementation plan for the Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine), which was the prototype of Turing's postwar concept. After returning the National Bureau of Standards in the US he moved on to the Institute for Numerical Analysis (INA), Los Angeles CA, where he built the Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC). While on leave from INA at Wayne State University in 1952-53, Huskey designed the Bendix G-15 drum computer and commenced a long term association with the company. Huskey received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1982 for his work on SWAC.
The second machine was the BINAC. The first product of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (now absorbed into Remington-Rand) and intended for use by Northrop Aircraft Company as an airborne machine. Unfortunately it never flew either figuratively or actually.
August 15, 1955 was the date of the first meeting of the SHARE Users group, an association of users of large IBM systems, that was to have a considerable influence on the further development of IBM machines. Though rarely in conflict with IBM, SHARE presented the customer's needs to the company as had never been considered before and undertook the collaborative development of software to support each other's applications. From this beginning the concept of user groups and more direct input on the trends in computer development took off. While many groups have come and gone over the years SHARE, Inc. still exists in 1996.
August Birthdays
Mina Rees was born 2 August 1902 in Cleveland OH. During World War II when Rees served as the Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Applied Mathematics Panel of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development. For her work, she was honored by both Britain and the United States. At the end of the war, the Navy invited her to establish and serve as Head of the Mathematics Branch in the newly created Office of Naval Research, responsible for programs supporting research in mathematics. This proved to be a surprisingly effective effort that expanded the horizons of mathematical research in the United States and strengthened programs in mathematics throughout the country. Her recognition of the need to emphasize numerical analysis led to the establishment of the Institute for Numerical Analysis (INA) at UCLA. Rees received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1989 as a member of the team from the Office of Naval Research.
Tom Kilburn Born 11 August 1921, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England. Kilburn has been involved in the field of computing since the mid-1940s, and built the first machine (the Manchester Mark I) that put programs and data in the same store (1948). He developed the cathode ray store in the early 1940s with Frederick Williams. Later he was central in the development of the ATLAS system which was designed from the outset as a multiprogrammed system based on virtual memory (paging) which exploited programmed operators (extracodes) residing either in read-only or alterable main store for extensibility, and which was expressly intended to run under control of a monitor system. The ATLAS was significant in influencing later thinking regarding computer systems throughout the world. Kilburn received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1980 for his "Paging Computer Design".
Chester Gordon Bell was born on 19 August 1934 in Kirksville MO. He spent 23 years at Digital Equipment Corporation as Vice President of Research and Development, where he was responsible for Digital's products. He was the architect of various mini- and time-sharing computers and led the development of DEC's VAX and the VAX Computing Environment. Bell has been involved in, or responsible for, the design of many products at Digital, Encore, Ardent, and a score of other companies. With Kilburn, Bell was one of the charter recipients of the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1980.
Bob Overton (Bo) Evans was born 19 August 1927 in Grand Island NE. "Bo" joined IBM in 1951 as a junior engineer working on the IBM 701 (Defense Calculator), and he had various responsibilities through 1962 when he was appointed Vice-President for the Data Systems Division, developing System/360. In 1961, only ten years after joining IBM, he almost single-handedly persuaded management to abandon a less ambitious product plan for one that resulted in IBM System/360. Evans received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1992.
John William Mauchly was born August 30, 1907 in Cincinnati OH and died 8 January 8, 1980 in Abington PA. The New York Times obituary described Mauchly as a "co-inventor of the first electronic computer," but his accomplishments went far beyond that simple description. Mauchly not only conceived of the idea for the ENIAC, but also understood how it might be applied to problems in ballistics as well as meteorology. Indeed, this vision was in large part responsible for the Moore School contract to build ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer. ENIAC, an acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was begun in April 1943 and completed in 1946. It had 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 6,000 switches, and 10,000 capacitors. While other machines before ENIAC could be classified as computers, ENIAC was the machine that caught the imagination of the world and gave the impetus for other institutions to copy the idea of building a computer. Mauchly died shortly before he could receive the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1980.
Willis Howard Ware was born 31 August 1920 in Atlantic City NJ. During World War II, he designed then secret radar beacons and IFF equipment with the Hazeltine Electronics Corporation. In 1946 he joined the engineering group at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton where he contributed to the design of the first ever parallel and asynchronous digital computer for John von Neumann - IAS. Ware joined The RAND Corporation in 1952 and held several staff and management positions, including head of the computer science department and deputy vice-president, responsible for inter-disciplinary research conducted for the US Air Force. He continued as a member of the corporate research staff until June 1992, and is currently a resident consultant at RAND. During the early part of this period he led the development of the JOHNNIAC computer at Rand that was derived from the IAS machine. Ware received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1983.
