[SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers

[Bernardo Batiz-Lazo]

I would disagree in the sense that it depends which geography you are
looking at. I have some evidence to suggest that banking and financial
services in general, were large purchasers.


Saludos / Kind regards,

Bernardo
University of Leicester (UK)


==================

Technological Innovation in Retail Finance:
International Historical Perspectives

Edited by Bernado Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maixé-Altés, Paul Thomes

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671/



On 14 September 2010 13:18, David Alan Grier <grier at gwu.edu> wrote:
> I tend to agree that it was a big consumer of computer cycles but I also
> have my doubts.  After I wrote a Column in Computer in December 2006 on the
> Univac Service Center for the Petroleum Industry in Dallas, which famously
> lost money and closed in the early 60s, I received a a small torrent of
> emails from retired petroleum engineers who felt that they were finally
> receiving their due.  As Jonathon noted, they were doing high dimensional
> fourier transforms and lots of linear programming, which consumes lots of
> cycles.  I received emails from an  Esso engineer, who noted that they took
> delivery of the first Univac 1103 in '56 and had von Neumann as a
> consultant.  I also got a note from a Chevron engineer who told me about the
> work he did in the early 60s.  At the same time, if you look at the
> companies buying large machines in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s you find that
> aerospace firms out number petroleum firms.
> Unless other evidence is out there, I tend to accept the thesis that the
> aerospace industry was the lead consumer of computers with petroleum behind
> it.
> David
> ----------------------------------------
> David Alan Grier
> Vice President of Publications, IEEE Computer Society
> Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy
> Center for International Science and Technology Policy
> Elliott School Of International Affairs
> George Washington University
> grier at computer.org
> On Sep 13, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Deborah Douglas wrote:
>
> Colleagues,
>
> Recently, I received a question about a claim that the petroleum-seeking
> geophysics industry was once the greatest consumer of computers, only
> surpassed at some later point by the federal government.  No citation was
> given and there is quite a bit of skepticism but where would you advise us
> to look to refute this claim (or perhaps my own aerospace bias is too strong
> and the claim is true!).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Debbie Douglas
>
>
> Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D.
> Curator of Science and Technology
> MIT Museum, N51-209
> 265 Massachusetts Avenue
> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
> ddouglas at mit.edu •  617-253-1766 phone  •  617-253-8994 fax
> http://web.mit.edu/museum  •  http://webmuseum.mit.edu •
> http://museum.mit.edu/150
>
>
>
>
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