Makin’ Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer PDF
Preview Makin’ Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer
Makin’ Numbers History of Computing I. Bernard Cohen and William Aspray, editors editorial board: Bernard Galler, J. A. N. Lee, Arthur Norberg, Brian Randell, Henry Tropp, Michael Williams, Heinz Zemanek William Aspray, John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, and Emerson W. Pugh, IBM’s Early Computers Paul E. Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing I. Bernard Cohen, Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer I. Bernard Cohen and Gregory W. Welch, editors, Makin’ Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer John Hendry, Innovating for Failure: Government Policy and the Early British Computer Industry Michael Lindgren, Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Müller, Charles Babbage and Georg and Edvard Scheutz David E. Lundstrom, A Few Good Men from Univac R. Moreau, The Computer Comes of Age: The People, the Hardware, and the Soft- ware Emerson W. Pugh, Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology Emerson W. Pugh, Memories That Shaped an Industry Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, and John H. Palmer, IBM’s 360 and Early 370 Systems Dorothy Stein, Ada: A Life and a Legacy Maurice V. Wilkes, Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer Makin’ Numbers Howard Aiken and the Computer edited by I. Bernard Cohen and Gregory W. Welch with the cooperation of Robert V. D. Campbell The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 1999 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. Set in New Baskerville by Wellington Graphics. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Makin’ Numbers : Howard Aiken and the Computer / edited by I. Bernard Cohen and Gregory W. Welch with cooperation of Robert V. D. Campbell. p. cm.— (History of computing) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–262-03263–5 (hc : alk. paper) 1. Aiken, Howard H. (Howard Hathaway), 1900–1973. 2. Computer engineers—United States—Biography. 3. Computers—History. I. Cohen, I. Bernard, 1914–. II. Welch, Gregory W. QA76.2.A35M35 1999 004!.092—dc21 [b] 98-43964 CIP Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii The Name “Mark I” xix Introducing Howard Aiken 1 I. Bernard Cohen I Aiken’s Machines Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine 9 Howard Aiken Aiken’s First Machine: The IBM ASCC/Harvard Mark I 31 Robert Campbell Constructing the IBM ASCC (Harvard Mark I) 65 Charles Bashe Programming Mark I 77 Richard Bloch Mark II, an Improved Mark I 111 Robert Campbell vi Contents Aiken’s Alternative Number System 129 Henry Tropp II Aiken’s Program of Instruction and Training Aiken and the Harvard “Comp Lab” 137 Frederick Brooks Jr. Aiken as a Teacher 143 Peter Calingaert Aiken’s Program in a Harvard Setting 163 Gregory Welch (concluding note by Adam Rabb Cohen) III Recollections Commander Aiken and My Favorite Computer 185 Grace Hopper Reminiscences of Aiken during World War II and Later 195 Richard Bloch Reminiscences of the Boss 203 Anthony Oettinger A View from Overseas 215 Maurice Wilkes Aiken at Home, 1973 219 Henry Tropp IV In His Own Words Aiken in His Own Words 229 selected and introduced by Gregory Welch Contents vii Appendixes Speciªcations of Aiken’s Four Machines 257 Robert Campbell and Peter Strong Aiken’s Doctoral Students and Their Dissertations 273 Index 275 Preface The title Makin’ Numbers comes from a favorite phrase of Howard Aiken’s, one he used to express his happiness when his “computing machines” were busy ªnding numerical solutions to problems or pro- ducing tables of various sorts. Part I, the heart of the book, contains technical discussions of Aiken’s ªrst machine, the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (also known as the Harvard Mark I), and of the improved version, Mark II. Aiken played an important role in the development of higher edu- cation in the area we now know as computer science. In part II, two of his Ph.D. students, Frederick Brooks Jr. and Peter Calingaert, offer reminiscences and evaluations of that program and provide informa- tion concerning the atmosphere of Aiken’s Computation Laboratory at Harvard. Their chapters are supplemented by Gregory Welch’s critical discussion of the Harvard environment and the problems of establishing the new discipline there. The reminiscences by Grace Hopper, Richard Bloch, Anthony Oettinger, Maurice Wilkes, and Henry Tropp in part III reveal many aspects of Aiken’s complex personality. For part IV, Gregory Welch has produced a selection of extracts from Aiken’s talks, based on transcripts available in the Harvard Uni- x Preface versity Archives.1 The chapters by Bloch, Brooks, Campbell (on Mark I), Hopper, and Wilkes are based on presentations at the Pioneer Day celebrations of Aiken and his machines. Organized by Robert Campbell, Richard Bloch, and I. Bernard Cohen, these celebrations were held during the National Computer Conference of the American Federation of Infor- mation Processing Societies at Anaheim, California, in May 1983. Tapes and transcripts of all the papers given are available in the Harvard University Archives, and transcripts are on deposit in the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota. The chapters by Bashe, Calingaert, Tropp, and Welch were written for this volume. Readers who are interested in Aiken’s life and career beyond the scope of this volume may consult Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer (MIT Press, 1999). 1. A few of these have been published in proceedings of meetings or confer- ences; however, in his whole career he wrote only one paper expressly for publication: “Trilinear Coordinates” (Journal of Applied Physics 8 (1937): 470– 472). An article attributed to him, titled “The Future of Automatic Computing Machinery,” was published in Nachrichten Technische Fachberichte (4 (1956): 31–35), but an editorial note explains that this was “a transcription from magnetic tape” of a lecture and that it had “not been revised by the author.” Aiken was also listed as a co-author, with Grace Hopper, of three articles on “The Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator” (Electrical Engineering 65 (1946): 384–391, 449–454, 522–528); I gather that Grace Hopper prepared these, which were essentially an abridged version of the Manual of Operation for Mark I. Aiken’s other publications are forewords or afterwards to sympo- siums. His doctoral dissertation, Theory of Space Charge Conduction (ofªcially dated “Harvard University, January 1, 1939”), is available in the Harvard University Archives; there is no record of his having published any portion of it.
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