[SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City

[Kim Tracy]

FYI, there's a nice article article on the M9 Gun Director from IEEE
Control Systems (published in 1995) on this.  I don't see a mention of the
crossing the Hudson being the genesis of the idea, but it does discuss the
genesis of the idea in this article:
http://www.ieeecss.org/CSM/library/1995/dec1995/05-BellLabsnAutoCtrl.pdf.

--Kim


--Kim Tracy
tracy at cs.stanford.edu

On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 9:16 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP at si.edu> wrote:

> 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
>
> On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <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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>
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