Grier When Computers Were Human

Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-4936-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 424 Seiten

David Alan Grier is Associate Professor in the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. His articles on the history of science have appeared in the American Mathematical Monthly, Chance, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post. He is Editor in Chief of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Long before he learned that his grandmother had been trained as a human computer, he absorbed the methods of programming the electronic computer from his father, who was a scientific computing specialist for the Burroughs Corporation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Grier, David Alan

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein EDV & Informatik: Geschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: A Grandmother's Secret Life 1

Part I: Astronomy and the Division of Labor 1682-1880 9

Chapter One: The First Anticipated Return: Halley's Comet 1758 11

Chapter Two: The Children of Adam Smith 26

Chapter Three: The Celestial Factory: Halley's Comet 1835 46

Chapter Four: The American Prime Meridian 55

Chapter Five: A Carpet for the Computing Room 72

Part II: Mass Production and New Fields of Science 1880-1930 89

Chapter Six: Looking Forward, Looking Backward: Machinery 1893 91

Chapter Seven: Darwin's Cousins 102

Chapter Eight: Breaking from the Ellipse: Halley's Comet 1910 119

Chapter Nine: Captains of Academe 126

Chapter Ten: War Production 145

Chapter Eleven: Fruits of the Conflict: Machinery 1922 159

Part III: Professional Computers and an Independent Discipline 1930-1964 175

Chapter Twelve: The Best of Bad Times 177

Chapter Thirteen: Scientific Relief 198

Chapter Fourteen: Tools of the Trade: Machinery 1937 220

Chapter Fifteen: Professional Ambition 233

Chapter Sixteen: The Midtown New York Glide Bomb Club 256

Chapter Seventeen: The Victor's Share 276

Chapter Eighteen: I Alone Am Left to Tell Thee 298

Epilogue: Final Passage: Halley's Comet 1986 318

Acknowledgments 323

Appendix: Recurring Characters, Institutions, and Concepts 325

Notes 333

Research Notes and Bibliography 373

Index 401

Illustration Credits 412

Über Autor(innen)

David Alan Grier is Associate Professor in the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. His articles on the history of science have appeared in the American Mathematical Monthly, Chance, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post. He is Editor in Chief of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Long before he learned that his grandmother had been trained as a human computer, he absorbed the methods of programming the electronic computer from his father, who was a scientific computing specialist for the Burroughs Corporation.