[SIGCIS-Members] MIDAC Project

[Salem Elzway]

Greetings everyone!

This is my first communication to the SIGCIS listserv, so I thought I'd
introduce myself quickly before getting to the topic at hand.

I'm a first year PhD student in the history department at the University of
Michigan studying the history and political economy of technological
development (particularly in the US).  Generally speaking, I'm interested
in how "the State" has played a pivotal role in the development of
technology and, more specifically, how the "national security state"
affected the computer's development in the early Cold War and after.

Canned introductions aside, I'm currently working on a history of the
Michigan Digital Automatic Computer (or MIDAC) that was built and in-use at
the Willow Run Laboratories between 1951-1958.  MIDAC was originally
commissioned to process air-guidance data for the BOMARC missile as part of
the Air Defense Integrated System (ADIS) and later the Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment (SAGE) system.  Unfortunately, there seems to be a
paucity of documentation about MIDAC as my initial foray into the archives
here at Michigan have not uncovered much.  Is anyone familiar with MIDAC
and/or aware of where I may find more documentation about it?

I greatly appreciate any help you can provide and I look forward to
interacting with the SIGCIS community in the future!

Best,

Salem

-- 
*Salem Elzway*
PhD Student
Department of History
University of Michigan
(402)730-4775
salem.elzway at gmail.com
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