[SIGCIS-Members] Newlyn/Phillips Machine workshop, University of Leeds Tuesday 3rd Feb 2009

[Graeme Gooday]

Apologies to the list for the spurious 'high importance' status of my
recent message below (that was just an artefact of a precursor
version...)
GG

________________________________

From: members-bounces at sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces at sigcis.org] On
Behalf Of Graeme Gooday
Sent: 02 February 2009 01:18
To: members at sigcis.org
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Newlyn/Phillips Machine workshop,University of
Leeds Tuesday 3rd Feb 2009
Importance: High


List members interested in the history of analog computing might want to
take a look at the outline of a workshop below at Leeds University
Business School on Tuesday 3rd Feb 2009. For further information about
the project to redevelop the Leeds prototype of the  Newlyn/Phillips
machine, contact Dr Greg Radick G.M.Radick at leeds.ac.uk
<mailto:G.M.Radick at leeds.ac.uk>  or Michael Finn, ph07maf at leeds.ac.uk
<mailto:ph07maf at leeds.ac.uk>  

________________________________


 

The Newlyn/Phillips machine now displayed in Leeds University Business
School is the original prototype of the hydraulic computer developed by
A.W.B. Phillips of the London School of Economics and Professor Walter
Newlyn of the University of Leeds for modelling macro-economic systems.
The machine and its descendents were highly influential in the
development of Keynesian economics in the 1950s, and are of interest to
economics, to historians of computing, and to historians of science
(hence the involvement of Mary Morgan in the program below).

 

1.30 - 3.00     Open Workshop.

Chair Professor Giuseppe Fontana, Leeds University Business School

 

                    1. Introduction to the Leeds Machine Project.  Dr
Greg Radick (Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of
Leeds)

 

2. "The Creation of the Newlyn/Phillips Hydraulic Machine" Professor
Mary Morgan (LSE)

Walter Newlyn's role in inventing the famous hydraulic model of the
macro-economy known as the Phillips Machine has often been overlooked,
yet his contributions to the machine's design and creation were as
important as those of Bill Phillips.  Phillips famously knew little
economics, whereas Newlyn understood the circulation of money from his
participation in the pre-War commodities market.  This paper discusses
how they combined their different expertises - and their shared pleasure
in getting things to work - to create the first prototype, the Mark I
machine, for Leeds (forerunner of the better-known Mark II machine, an
example of which is housed in the London Science Museum).

 

3. "Resurrecting the Cambridge Machine", Dr Allan McRobie (Cambridge
University Engineering Department) 

With objects of historical significance there is always a dynamic
tension between conservation and restoration. Given the existence of the
beautifully conserved Machine in the Science Museum, the decision was
made by the Dept of Economics in Cambridge to restore their Machine to
full working order, albeit with minimal intrusion on the original
workings.


Over the summer of 2003, Allan - with help from technicians in the
Engineering Dept and advice from economists - undertook the
refurbishment. The Cambridge Machine now works and - moreover - is safe
to work with. Allan has since given many working demonstrations of the
Machine to a wide variety of audiences.  This short talk describes what
was involved, with a view to assessing what might be involved in the
Leeds Machine project.

 

3.00 - 4.00      Coffee / Visit to the Leeds Machine

 

________________________________________________________________________
__________________

 

 

Graeme Gooday, 
Professor of the History of Science and Technology  
 & National Teaching Fellow
Department of Philosophy
Woodhouse Lane
University of Leeds
LEEDS
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
 
E-mail: g.j.n.gooday at leeds.ac.uk <mailto:g.j.n.gooday at leeds.ac.uk> 
 
Phone: 0113 343 3274
FAX: 0113 343 3265


 

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