19 Oct
2010
19 Oct
'10
3:35 p.m.
On 2010 Oct 19, at 3:20 PM, Evan Koblentz wrote:
Is there some ref for this in relation to SEAC? From online refs I
see DYSEAC was built by NBS for delivery to the Army, but everything
I have seen for SEAC (1950) indicates it was at NBS for many years,
where it played a role in early image processing experiments (1957).
It did some computing for other gov agencies, but it's prime of life
seems to have been at NBS.
SEAC was used for nuclear weapons testing. That's military.
Keep in mind that just because a system resided at a non-military
installation doesn't mean the military didn't use it. For example,
the Signal Corps lab that's now our museum was a customer of the Moore
School's differential analyzers.
Indeed, but I wouldn't say that just because a machine did some
computing for mil apps/clients, that that makes it a military machine.
Apparently it did some variety of computing tasks, I haven't seen
anything to suggest it's commissioning, primary use or majority effort
was for mil purposes.
>> Military computing tends to be 800 pound
gorilla in the room that
>> historians tend to dismiss.
>
> How do you figure? The early history of digital computing,
> especially in the 1940s - 1950s, is dominated by military
> installations. Colossus, ENIAC, many UNIVACs, SEAC/SWAC, SAGE,
> etc. .... in fact this year's winner of the Computer History
> Museum Prize* is "Calculating a Natural World" by Atsushi Akera.
> The book is a great read and focuses on Cold War computer
> research.
>
> * The prize is administered by the Society for the History of
> Technology's Special Interest Group for Computers, Information,
> and Society, a.k.a. SHOT-SIGCIS. This is the primary organization
> for professional computer historians.
Not to take away from your point, but why do you include SEAC/SWAC
in that list? (both National Bureau of Standards computers)
I stand corrected about SWAC. But SEAC (and its successor DYSEAC)
both went to the Army. In addition to the book I recommended, another great
source of
relevant history is the Office of Naval Research's "Digital Computer
Newsletter". Many of the issues are online. They provided regular
updates to the mil/industrial complex about the status and
applications of Giant Brains.