[SIGCIS-Members] human computers

[David Alan Grier]

Bernie
    Though the move  to NJ, The labs had at least two kinds of human computers. The first were in a larger group that was part of the applied mathematics lab. It was under the direction of Clara Froelich, though she really had limited authority. They did general problems for anyone in the labs. They also worked with (and often trained) a second kind of mathematical assistant who were directly assigned to the engineers or scientists. The labs directories team to list the first group in detail but not the second. It is plausible that personal assistants were not there for very long. The computing training in the labs focussed on linear algebra and numerical integration.  So you are probably right, we'll only know anything if she papers behind. 

David 

_______________
David Alan Grier
IEEE Computer Society, Past President
Center for Int. Science & Tech. Policy 
George Washington University



> On Nov 11, 2014, at 11:04 AM, Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan <bernard.geoghegan at hu-berlin.de> wrote:
> 
> Hi Sigcis'ers,
> 
> as an aside, Claude Shannon's first met his wife when she worked as a colleague and human computer at Bell Labs. She left the Labs after they married. I was always curious to know more about how or if her work dialogued with that of C. Shannon. The latter was famous for doing much of his work at home and it seemed to me plausible that some of his projects -- so many of which were a kind of "amateur" work, in the sense of something done for joy rather than narrow technical and professional applications -- could well have intersected or elaborated some of their shared interests. Alas, that's one "cold case" that I won't have a chance to hunt down but I'd be thrilled if someone somewhere found something out or wrote something on it one day...
> 
> Bernie
> 
> 
>> On 11/11/14 4:56 PM, Nathan Ensmenger wrote:
>> Bill — thanks for sharing that photo of your mother.  If you are willing/interested, there is a blog called nobrocomputing (http://nobrocomputing.tumblr.com) that is collecting images of women in information technology (very broadly defined).  It was started by Lilly Irani at UCSD but I am one of the editors.  I am pretty sure that anyone can submit directly to the site.
>> 
>> I would encourage everyone on the SIGCIS list to keep an eye out for such images and to share them when possible.  Having them available and collected in a single place is important and useful.
>> 
>> Also, thank you to our SIGCIS leaders Andy Russell and Tom Haigh for organizing a particularly excellent workshop in Dearborn this past weekend!
>> 
>> -Nathan
>> 
>> —
>> Nathan Ensmenger
>> Associate Professor of Informatics
>> School of Informatics and Computing
>> Indiana University, Bloomington
>> homes.soic.indiana.edu/nensmeng/
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Dr. Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan
> Institut für Kulturwissenschaft
> Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
> Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
> 
> www.bernardg.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members