[SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City

[Ceruzzi, Paul]

George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex  Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know.   Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else?

If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park.

Paul Ceruzzi
________________________________
From: Members [members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Kim Tracy [tracy at cs.stanford.edu]
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 2:09 PM
To: Evan Koblentz
Cc: members at SIGCIS.org
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City

Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s.  A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location.  So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.

--Kim


--Kim Tracy
tracy at cs.stanford.edu<mailto:tracy at cs.stanford.edu>

On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net<mailto:evan at snarc.net>> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to
start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I
attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the
sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all
over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described
Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech
revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964
Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music
(Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing
told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's
no special effort to frame IBM as aregionalist /company.

Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's
impressions...feel free to drop me an email.


I'm planning to go soon.

NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.

I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)

In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.

Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.

Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.

I'm just saying. :)


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