<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>I tend to agree that it was a big consumer of computer cycles but I also have my doubts. After I wrote a Column in Computer in December 2006 on the Univac Service Center for the Petroleum Industry in Dallas, which famously lost money and closed in the early 60s, I received a a small torrent of emails from retired petroleum engineers who felt that they were finally receiving their due. As Jonathon noted, they were doing high dimensional fourier transforms and lots of linear programming, which consumes lots of cycles. I received emails from an Esso engineer, who noted that they took delivery of the first Univac 1103 in '56 and had von Neumann as a consultant. I also got a note from a Chevron engineer who told me about the work he did in the early 60s. At the same time, if you look at the companies buying large machines in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s you find that aerospace firms out number petroleum firms. </div><div><br></div><div>Unless other evidence is out there, I tend to accept the thesis that the aerospace industry was the lead consumer of computers with petroleum behind it. </div><div><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">David</font></div><div><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">----------------------------------------</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">David Alan Grier</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Vice President of Publications, IEEE Computer Society</font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; ">Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Center for International Science and Technology Policy</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Elliott School Of International Affairs</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">George Washington University</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><a href="mailto:grier@computer.org">grier@computer.org</a></font></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br><div><div>On Sep 13, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Deborah Douglas wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Colleagues,<br><br>Recently, I received a question about a claim that the petroleum-seeking geophysics industry was once the greatest consumer of computers, only surpassed at some later point by the federal government. No citation was given and there is quite a bit of skepticism but where would you advise us to look to refute this claim (or perhaps my own aerospace bias is too strong and the claim is true!).<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Debbie Douglas<br><br><br>Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D.<br>Curator of Science and Technology<br>MIT Museum, N51-209<br>265 Massachusetts Avenue<br>Cambridge, MA 02139-4307<br><a href="mailto:ddouglas@mit.edu">ddouglas@mit.edu</a> • 617-253-1766 phone • 617-253-8994 fax<br><a href="http://web.mit.edu/museum">http://web.mit.edu/museum</a> • <a href="http://webmuseum.mit.edu">http://webmuseum.mit.edu</a> • <a href="http://museum.mit.edu/150">http://museum.mit.edu/150</a><br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>