[SIGCIS-Members] 17th-19th c. exhibitions of computers
David Ferro
davidferro at gmail.com
Wed Mar 19 10:13:45 PDT 2008
Bernard,
At the risk of sounding self-serving I've got some pretty
comprehensive notes on automata displays as advertised or written
about in the mid to late 18th century Colonial-American general
periodical. They are in my dissertation. If you are interested let
me know directly as I will have to turn on access to the PDF files for
you.
David
On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 4:19 AM, Brian Randell <Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> At 20:54 -0400 18/3/08, Bernard Geoghegan wrote:
> >Hi SIGCIS members,
> > I'm doing some research on the 20th century exhibition of
> >computers, particularly in the form of automata and televised
> >calculating machines. I'd like to look for some historical
> >precedents, though. Does anyone know of any works discussing the
> >exhibition of calculating machines from the 17th through the 19th
> >century? For example, in the 19th century calculating machines were
> >sent to at least one World's Fair, and in in the 18th c. von
> >Kempelen's chess playing Turk inspired popular speculations and
> >exciting about thinking machines, etc.
> > Thanks for your help.
> >Bernard
> >
> >
> >Bernard Geoghegan
> >Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University
> >Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society,
> >Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>
> One of the best i know, though slightly out of your time frame, is:
>
> Napier Tercentenary Celebration: Handbook of the Exhibition, ed. E.
> M. Horsburgh, pp. 124-127, Edinburgh, Royal Society of Edinburgh,
> 1914. [(Also published as Modern Instruments and Methods of
> Calculation: A Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration
> Exhibition, G. Bell and Sons, London, 1914.)]
>
> Cheers
>
> Brian Randell
>
>
> --
> School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
> NE1 7RU, UK
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
> FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
>
>
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