[SIGCIS-Members] whirlwind, radar and real-time tracking

[LO*OP CENTER, INC.]

My dad, Oliver H. Straus, was one of those non-students who hung around MIT
and Lincoln Labs in the late 40's and 50's. He also worked on the Nike
missiles. I didn't know him very well and most of what he did was
classified. If you find any references to him, please let me know.

Cheers,

Liza

On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 2:06 PM Bernard Geoghegan <
bernardgeoghegan2010 at u.northwestern.edu> wrote:

> Hi Colleagues,
>
>
>
> This is quite fascinating—thanks Guy, and everyone else.
>
>
>
> I worked a bit on the longer arc of vigilance and aerial defense WWI
> through Cold War, leaping from WW2 radar to digital SAGE (over/through
> Whirlwind) in the essay below. Taking cues from Mindell, I suggest that the
> continuity of the control priblem trumps the significance of analog/digital
> for some key concerns:
>
>
>
> Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan, “An Ecology of Operations: Vigilance, Radar,
> and the Birth of the Computer Screen,” *Representations* 147, no. 1
> (August 2019): 59–95, https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2019.147.1.59.
>
>
>
> I’m deeply indebted to Paul’s book, mentioned already. More generally, for
> situating these technologies in a wider network of technologies and
> protocols cutting across analog and digital, WW2 and Cold War talks and
> technologies, I also found helpful:
>
>
>
> Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi, “Cognitive and Perceptual Training in the Cold War
> Man-Machine System,” in *Uncertain Empire: American History and the Idea
> of the Cold War*, ed. Joel Isaac and Duncan Bell (Oxford: Oxford
> University Press, 2014), 267–93. (On the human element but the training was
> so thorough and rigorous, and the systems-design so pervasive, it’s hard to
> view “human factors” as not also a technical element, perhaps even a
> technology)
>
>
>
> Christoph Borbach and Tristan Thielmann, “Über das Denken in
> Ko-Operationsketten. Arbeiten am Luftlagebild,” in *Materialität der
> Kooperation*, ed. Sebastian Gießmann, Tobias Röhl, and Ronja Trischler
>  (Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2019), 115–67,
> https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20805-9_5.
>
>
>
> Also:
>
> Thomas Parke Hughes, *Rescuing Prometheus* (New York: Pantheon Books,
> 1998). [Chapter 2 on SAGE, but I seem to recall discussions of Whirlwind,
> too]
>
>
>
> Stephen B. Johnson, *The United States Air Force and the Culture of
> Innovation, 1945-1965* (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums
> Program, 2002). (I think this may have something. Not sure)
>
>
>
> For a philosophical and speculative take on these kinds of systems and
> their signifance, including fallout in gaming: Claus Pias, “The Game
> Player’s Duty: The User as the Gestalt of the Ports,” in *Media
> Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications*, ed. Erkki
> Huhtamo and Jussi Parikka (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011),
> 164–83. [I think his book on computer games has relevant material too]
>
>
>
> I’d be delighted to keep apprised of your continuing work on this topic
> Guy, thank you so much for sharing!
>
>
>
> Best, b
>
>
>
> *From: *Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Paul N.
> Edwards <pedwards at stanford.edu>
> *Date: *Saturday, 24 April 2021 at 20:56
> *To: *Guy Fedorkow <guy.fedorkow at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *members <members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [SIGCIS-Members] whirlwind, radar and real-time tracking
>
> Guy, seconding Pierre’s good response and adding that in 1951, analog
> computers were still far faster than digital for most complex calculations,
> because they are inherently parallel processors. Digital machines were also
> prone to *very* frequent failure. Most sensors were analog, too, providing
> no numerical readouts. Few control engineers would have even considered a
> digital computer for any real-time application until the second half of
> that decade, and even then they were not the natural choice for most
> applications.
>
>
>
> The early chapters of my book The Closed World: Computers and the Politics
> of Discourse in Cold War America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996) cover
> SAGE and the surrounding computing landscape of the 1940s-1950s.
>
>
>
> Other resources on SAGE:
>
>
>
> Everett, Robert R., Charles A. Zraket, and Herbert D. Benington. “Sage: A
> Data-Processing System for Air Defense.” Proceedings of the Eastern Joint
> Computer Conference (1957): 339–45.
>
>
>
> Redmond, Kent C. and Thomas M. Smith. Project Whirlwind: The History of a
> Pioneer Computer. Boston: Digital Press, 1980.
>
>
>
> Valley, George E., Jr. “How the Sage Development Began.” Annals of the
> History of Computing 7, no. 3 (1985): 196–226.
>
>
>
> Redmond, Kent C. and Thomas M. Smith. From Whirlwind to Mitre: The R&d
> Story of the Sage Air Defense Computer. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Paul Edwards
>
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 23, 2021, at 16:41, Guy Fedorkow <guy.fedorkow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Greetings Colleagues,
>   I've been working on restoring a 1951 Whirlwind program, written at MIT,
> used to demonstrate real-time tracking of aircraft with radar for the
> purposes of guiding an interception (the Cold War was in full flight in the
> 1950's).  This work ultimately led to the massive SAGE air defense network
> in the US.
>   You can see some rather informal preliminary notes on the work at
>
> https://www.historia-mollimercium.com/whirlwind/WW-Track-while-Scan-Draft-Notes-v1.pdf
>   The program does work in simulation; you can see a four-minute video of
> the simulator running an intercept at
>
> https://www.historia-mollimercium.com/whirlwind/Track-while-scan-Apr-23-2021.mp4
>   Spoiler alerts: The original really did display moving dots on a CRT,
> but the graphics are "spartan" to say the least.  And nothing in particular
> happens when the intercept actually happens.
>
>   Would anyone know of contemporaneous work involving digital computers
> for either radar tracking or real-time computing around 1951?  I think all
> the familiar digital computers from those years were used in applications
> where batch operation was perfectly acceptable, e.g., computing ballistics
> tables.
>   Innovations like this rarely occur in a complete vacuum, but I don't see
> references to any similar digital computing projects.
>   If anyone has pointers, do let me know!
> Thanks
> Guy Fedorkow
>
>
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>
>
> ________________________
>
> Paul N. Edwards <https://profiles.stanford.edu/paul-edwards>
>
> Director, Program on Science, Technology & Society
> <http://sts.stanford.edu>
>
> William J. Perry Fellow in International Security and Senior Research
> Scholar
>
> Center for International Security and Cooperation
> <http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/>
>
> Co-Director, Stanford Existential Risks Initiative
> <https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/stanford-existential-risks-initiative>
>
> Stanford University
>
> Professor of Information <http://www.si.umich.edu/> and History
> <http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/> (Emeritus)
>
> University of Michigan
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
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-- 
Liza Loop
Executive Director, LO*OP Center, Inc.
Guerneville, CA 95446
www.loopcenter.org
650 619 1099 (between 8 am and 10 pm Pacific time only please)
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