[SIGCIS-Members] Another question - "Giant Brains"

[Roger Neil Barton]

Like others I've really enjoyed this string.  In a piece of very scientific research on a cold Sunday afternoon I googled electronic brain and discovered an article from Nov 9, 1946 in the Surrey Comet newspaper, which covers Teddington where the NPL is located.  It is discussing Turing's ACE machine under the headline "Electronic Brain to be made at Teddington" as an improvement on ENIAC.  A few years ago I was lost when driving near Teddington, and when I stopped to look at a map looked up and saw the blue plaque where Alan Turing lived 1945-1947 before he went to Manchester.  On then searching The Times for electronic brain between 1900 and 1950 I came across a speech by Lord Mountbatten, President of the British Institution of Radio Engineers, who on October 30 1946 appeared to use the term 'electronic brain', which was incorporated into the headline.  (Lord Mountbatten was very high profile, the Queen's Uncle-in-Law (& cousin) and in WWII was Supreme Allied Commander of SE Asia, Vinegar Joe Stillwell's boss)  There were a number of letters protesting the term electronic brain, including one from the Director of the NPL responsible for the ACE who ever so gently blamed Mountbatten.  Another protest about the term was from Prof Hartree, Dir of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.   On Feb 28 there was a CUP advertisement for Hartree's new book 'Calculating Machines' described as including 'an account of ENIAC, the so-called electronic brain'.  Like to have been a fly on the wall when he next met his publisher!   I've no idea whether or not Tom set the list up with the ability to accept attachments but if so you will see the result of these searches.
kind regards
neil

Dr Roger Neil Barton
Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Historical Research
http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Cortada 
  To: Thomas Haigh 
  Cc: members-bounces at sigcis.org ; members at sigcis.org 
  Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 10:21 PM
  Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Another question - "Giant Brains"


  So much good dialogue has taken place today on this topic that I think we should ask Evan to consolidate all of this into a short article that goes into one of the back sections of the Annals or into an article in some media journal. If that works, there are a bunch of other things we could flush out from time to time using this social networking/wisdom of crowds approach. We might even expand Evan's assignment by discussing automation next weekend and then the following weekend cybernetics.

  Jim (James) W. Cortada

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