| Description |
1 online resource (xx, 329 pages) : illustrations. |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Series |
History of computing
|
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History of computing.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Names "ASCC" and "Mark I" -- Introduction to a Pioneer -- Early Life and Education -- A Harvard Graduate Student -- First Steps Toward a New Type of Calculating Machine -- An Unsuccessful Attempt to Get the Machine Built -- Seeking Support from IBM -- Proposal for an Automatic Calculating Machine -- Aiken's Background in Computing and Knowledge of Babbage's Machines -- Planning and Beginning the Construction of the Machine -- How to Perform Multiplication and Division by Machine -- Construction of the Machine -- Installing the ASCC/Mark I in Cambridge and Transferring It to the Navy -- Aiken at the Naval Mine Warfare School -- Dedication -- Aftermath -- Some Features of Mark I -- Programming and Staffing, Wartime Operation, and the Implosion Computations -- Mystery of the Number 23 -- Tables of Bessel Functions -- Aiken's Harvard Program in Computer Science -- Later Relations between Aiken and IBM -- Aiken at Harvard, 1945-1961 -- Life in the Comp Lab -- Retirement from Harvard -- Businessman and Consultant -- A Summing Up -- Appendixes -- Harvard News Release -- Aiken's Talk at the Dedication -- Aiken's Memorandum Describing the Harvard Computation Laboratory -- Stored Program and the Binary Number System -- Aiken's Three Later Machines -- How Many Computers Are Needed? -- NSF Computer Tree -- Who Invented the Computer? Was Mark I a Computer? -- Harvard Computation Laboratory during the 1950s. |
| Summary |
"Howard Hathaway Aiken (1900-1973) was a major figure of the early digital era. He is best known for his first machine, the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator or Harvard Mark I, conceived in 1937 and put into operation in 1944. But he also made significant contributions to the development of applications for the new machines and to the creation of a university curriculum for computer science." "This biography of Aiken, by a major historian of science who was also a colleague of Aiken's at Harvard, offers a clear and often entertaining introduction to Aiken and his times."--Jacket. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Aiken, Howard H. (Howard Hathaway), 1900-1973.
|
|
Aiken, Howard H. (Howard Hathaway), 1900-1973. |
|
Aiken, Howard. |
|
Computer engineers -- United States -- Biography.
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Computer engineers. |
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United States. |
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Computers -- History.
|
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Computers. |
|
History. |
| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
|
|
Electronic books.
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History.
|
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Biografieën (vorm)
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Biographies.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Cohen, I. Bernard, 1914- Howard Aiken. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 1999 0262032627 (DLC) 98043965 (OCoLC)39785358 |
| ISBN |
0585077991 (electronic book) |
|
9780585077994 (electronic book) |
|
0262032627 (hc ; alkaline paper) |
|
