[SIGCIS-Members] NASA contributions to computer development

Fri May 31 15:57:28 PDT 2019

Colleagues,

The first work should be Paul Ceruzzi’s “Beyond the Limits” which explores the special relationship between aerospace and computing.  Over the years, Paul has made many more contributions on this subject (including a fine paper at the 2016 SHOT meeting in Singapore).  David Mindell’s “Digital Apollo” does an excellent job capturing the story of the Apollo Guidance Computer but as many know, this is hardly the only computer story in the space program.  I would recommend Robert Ferguson’s “NASA’s First A” as a good place to start as it includes a description of many projects, most importantly the development of the structural analysis software package NASTRAN.  (The book can be downloaded: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/NASAsFirstA-508-ebook.pdf).

Debbie Douglas

On May 31, 2019, at 5:49 PM, Jeffrey Yost <yostx003 at umn.edu<mailto:yostx003 at umn.edu>> wrote:

NASA Ames has the RIACS the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science, its founding Director was esteemed computer scientist and past ACM President Peter J. Denning (now a Prof. at Naval Post Graduate in Monterey).  NASA Langley has computing research programs.  NASA has major research programs funding government labs, FFRDCs, and university researchers, in particular, its Program in High-End Computing (HEC)/Supercomputing.  There are quite a number of hits to NASA in CBI finding aids (hundreds) as well as CBI oral histories.

Jeff

Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D.
Director, Charles Babbage Institute
Research Professor, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

222  21st Avenue South
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

612 624 5050 Phone
612 625 8054 Fax

On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 4:08 PM Corinna Kirsch <corinna.kirsch at stonybrook.edu<mailto:corinna.kirsch at stonybrook.edu>> wrote:
Depending on the nature of the journalist's interest in "computer development," I'd suggest pointing the journalist in the direction of Margaret Hamilton and team's work on Apollo software. I'm not sure what type of interest the journalist has in "computer development": big machines, fast processors, virtual reality software, prototyping?

http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817
http://wg18.criticalcodestudies.com/index.php?p=/discussion/17/week-1-gendering-the-apollo-11-onboard-in-flight-software

http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817

Corinna J. Kirsch
PhD Candidate in Modern Art History, Criticism, and Theory<http://art.stonybrook.edu/person/corinna-kirsch-mcdonald/>
Stony Brook University, State University of New York
Phone: +1 (936) 697-1902

[Stony Brook University logo]
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On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 12:27 PM David C. Brock <dcb at dcbrock.net<mailto:dcb at dcbrock.net>> wrote:
NASA was a sponsor of Englebart’s lab at SRI. NASA also funded work in computer graphics and animation. NASA’s JPL is an important site in the history of computer animation.

Just a couple of quick thoughts...
+++++++++++++++
David C. Brock
dcb at dcbrock.net<mailto:dcb at dcbrock.net>
40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301
Mobile: 413-522-3578
Skype: dcbrock
Twitter: @dcbrock

On May 31, 2019, at 1:48 PM, Alex Roland <alex.roland at duke.edu<mailto:alex.roland at duke.edu>> wrote:

Friends:

          I have been a passive member of SIGCIS for many years now, even though I am no longer an active researcher in the field.  Still, I follow your correspondence with great interest.  I am writing now because I have received an inquiry from a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who is interested in NASA’s historical contributions to computer development.  I know from research on my book Strategic Computing: DARPA and  the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983-1993 (2002) that NASA was involved in the Federal High Performance Computing Program in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  I do not, however, know of other significant contributions by NASA to computer development.  If anyone knows of such contributions, I would be happy to know about them.

Thanks,  Alex Roland

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Deborah G. Douglas, PhD • Director of Collections and Curator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum; Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • ddouglas at mit.edu<mailto:ddouglas at mit.edu> • 617-253-1766 telephone • 617-253-8994 facsimile • http://mitmuseum.mit.edu • http://museum.mit.edu/150

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