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2011, not 2001!
by Dag Spicer 16 Sep '10

16 Sep '10

Dear friends, I of course meant 2011, not 2001! Thanks to Burt and Jay for pointing that out. Dag -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Museum Twitter: http://twitter.com/ComputerHistory

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers
by Allan Olley 15 Sep '10

15 Sep '10

I know of one incident from the fuzzy origin period of computers circa 1948-1952, two different oil companies, Carter oil and Gulf Research and Development Co., submitted similar problems in oil exploitation (if I remember right optimization problems on how best to get oil out of wells) to IBM's Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC, a sort of proto-computers). In particular Carter Oil (which apparently was a subsiduary of Exxon) hired von Neumann as a consultant. As far as I've been able to find the SSEC was actually used for about 23 projects (another dozen were considered with some preliminary work done). Of these about half were done gratis for various research scientists, the other half were done on a cost basis for various paying clients, mostly scientists and engineers at US federal government (military) agencies. Of the 5 payed for by private companies, one was GE's turbine design, one was Fairchild Aircraft's atomic airplane division, one was by Reeves Instrument company to calibrate a missile guidance system, and then the two oil problems. This is not really a statistical significant sample and the SSEC was biased sampling because it was a philanthropic show piece ostensively meant for the benefit of scientists. Still oil companies were clearly early adopters and had problems that needed computing power but I've always been led to believe that in the earliest days of the electronic computer government was the biggest user of computing resources (electronic or otherwise), in the United States. And even many of the private interests were firms working on defense projects or other government contracts (military aircraft etc.). This oral interview ( http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Enders_Robinson ) with Enders Robinson suggests that the use of computers in the geophysics of oil exploration did not occur until the 1960s, but that they were widely used at refineries earlier. On von Neumann and Carter Oil see: Aspray, _John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing_ (1990), pp. 105-108 Here is a paper on oil extraction that credits with von Neumann with some help (talks about moving some stuff from desktop calculators to a card programmed calculator): http://www.aimehq.org/search/docs/Volume%20207/207-31.pdf My estimate of SSEC usage is based mostly on an unpublished manuscript (substantiated from the published record and elsewhere where possible), "Appendix B: SSEC Operation" (no date) in "SSEC, the first electronic computer" by A. W. Brooke, pp. B1-B12. A. Wayne Brooke Collection, University North Carolina at Raleigh, special collections, MC#268, Box 1, Folder #9: Series 2.3 writings. A. W. Brooke was the supervising engineer of the SSEC during its operation 1948-1952 and apparently found the summary of SSEC operation in IBM archives. -- Yours Truly, Allan Olley http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/ On Mon, 13 Sep 2010, Deborah Douglas wrote: > Colleagues, > > 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!). > > Thanks, > > Debbie Douglas > > > Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. > Curator of Science and Technology > MIT Museum, N51-209 > 265 Massachusetts Avenue > Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 > ddouglas(a)mit.edu • 617-253-1766 phone • 617-253-8994 fax > http://web.mit.edu/museum • http://webmuseum.mit.edu • > http://museum.mit.edu/150 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of > SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ > and you can change your subscription options at > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members

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Petroleum and computers (from Burt Grad)
by Thomas Haigh 15 Sep '10

15 Sep '10

Forwarded from Burt Grad, who for some reason is having trouble sending from his own account and having the list accept it. Tom From: Burtgrad(a)aol.com [mailto:Burtgrad@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 6:59 AM To: members(a)sigcis.org Cc: thaigh(a)acm.org Subject: Petroleum and computers As a developer at IBM's Data Processing Division during the 1960's, I was involved in applications work with many of the major users of mainframes. So far, all of the comments I have read seem substantially correct. However, there was a large gap in the types of companies which were doing scientific/technical computations and those doing business applications. The heaviest business users were banks, insurance companies and manufacturing companies (including aerospace and petroleum/gas). The largest scientific users were the aerospace and petroleum companies. Before the S/360 was announced, I believe that the sales of commercial machines exceeded the sale of scientific machines (certainly in the US); and I believe that the ratio of business to scientific usage was around 4 to 1. Share and Guide may have some data on this and there must have been data submitted to the government in the anti-trust suit which stipulated the sales of various sizes and types of IBM computers during the 1960s. I know that IBM would have been unable to sell S/360s to the Petroleum companies unless we had high functioning LP codes. And IBM couldn't have sold to the Aerospace companies without PERT programs. The only other evidence that I can recall was that by the end of the 1960s a number of the aerospace companies were selling excess capacity on a timesharing and remote processing services basis; some of the petroleum companies also did this but I believe to a lesser degree. Still, in terms of total value of computers sold, I believe that the commercial usage was much greater and therefore the sales to businesses other than Aerospace and Petroleum was probably much greater. Without statistics available to me, I would guess that dicrete manufacturing (not process), banking and insurance were the largest markets (other than government) in the 1960s and probably through the 1970s at least. Burt Grad [co-chair, Software Industry Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum]

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Members Digest, Vol 3, Issue 7
by Dag Spicer 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

The elephant in the room is the federal government (NSA, CIA, &c) -- I don't have numbers (as the intelligence community's budgets are 'black') but it's been a truism in the supercomputing community for decades that the USG is the world's largest consumer of computer cycles. We'll never prove it but the cycles consumed on crypto alone vastly outnumber any commercial application. BTW, the TI ASC was not a competitive machine but a technical and financial disaster for TI. The Cray-1 (1976) ate it for breakfast. Dag On 9/14/10 8:11 AM, "members-request(a)sigcis.org" <members-request(a)sigcis.org> wrote: > Send Members mailing list submissions to > members(a)sigcis.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > members-request(a)sigcis.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > members-owner(a)sigcis.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Members digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: petroleum and computers (Ceruzzi, Paul) > 2. Re: petroleum and computers (Ceruzzi, Paul) > 3. Re: petroleum and computers (Bernardo Batiz-Lazo) > 4. Re: petroleum and computers (Geoffrey C. Bowker) > 5. Re: petroleum and computers (JoAnne Yates) > 6. Re: petroleum and computers (Scott Campbell) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:43:27 -0400 > From: "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP(a)si.edu> > To: "members(a)sigcis.org" <members(a)sigcis.org> > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > Message-ID: > <F34BA0D383FCA643AD8802F02D0128B10B9CF9A4F9(a)SI-MSEV04.US.SINET.SI.EDU> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Debbie: > > I passed your query on to Eric Weiss, who worked for one of the major oil > companies in those days. Eric has been somewhat hard to get hold of, but last > I heard he is OK and living comfortably in Hawaii. If anyone on the list has > more recent news, perhaps you could let me know (off-list). > > Paul E. Ceruzzi, MRC 311, National Air and Space Museum, PO Box 37012, > Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012. phone: 202-633-2414. > > -----Original Message----- > From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf > Of Deborah Douglas > Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 6:47 PM > To: members(a)sigcis.org > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > > Colleagues, > > 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!). > > Thanks, > > Debbie Douglas > > > Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. > Curator of Science and Technology > MIT Museum, N51-209 > 265 Massachusetts Avenue > Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 > ddouglas(a)mit.edu * 617-253-1766 phone * 617-253-8994 fax > http://web.mit.edu/museum * http://webmuseum.mit.edu * > http://museum.mit.edu/150 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of > SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and > you can change your subscription options at > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:52:22 -0400 > From: "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP(a)si.edu> > To: "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP(a)si.edu>, "members(a)sigcis.org" > <members(a)sigcis.org> > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > Message-ID: > <F34BA0D383FCA643AD8802F02D0128B10B9CF9A4FA(a)SI-MSEV04.US.SINET.SI.EDU> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Oh, one other thing: > > Texas Instruments, where Jack Kilby worked and where a lot of advanced R&D on > solid-state computing was done, started out as a geophysical exploration > company, looking for oil deposits based on seismic data. In addition to their > well-known pioneering work on silicon transistors, pocket calculators, > integrated circuits, and mobile communications devices, they also built a > competitive supercomputer, the "ASC," in the mid-1960s. > > Paul E. Ceruzzi, MRC 311, National Air and Space Museum, PO Box 37012, > Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012. phone: 202-633-2414. > > -----Original Message----- > From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf > Of Deborah Douglas > Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 6:47 PM > To: members(a)sigcis.org > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > > Colleagues, > > 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!). > > Thanks, > > Debbie Douglas > > > Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. > Curator of Science and Technology > MIT Museum, N51-209 > 265 Massachusetts Avenue > Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 > ddouglas(a)mit.edu * 617-253-1766 phone * 617-253-8994 fax > http://web.mit.edu/museum * http://webmuseum.mit.edu * > http://museum.mit.edu/150 > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:47:58 +0100 > From: Bernardo Batiz-Lazo <bbatiz64(a)gmail.com> > To: David Alan Grier <grier(a)gwu.edu> > Cc: members(a)sigcis.org > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > Message-ID: > <AANLkTi=KN7vfbBDrO2sATqT9w11vF0DkfVVFQRqqRjhs(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > I would disagree in the sense that it depends which geography you are > looking at. I have some evidence to suggest that banking and financial > services in general, were large purchasers. > > > Saludos / Kind regards, > > Bernardo > University of Leicester (UK) > > > ================== > > Technological Innovation in Retail Finance: > International Historical Perspectives > > Edited by Bernado Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maix?-Alt?s, Paul Thomes > > http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671/ > > > > On 14 September 2010 13:18, David Alan Grier <grier(a)gwu.edu> wrote: >> 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. >> 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. >> David >> ---------------------------------------- >> David Alan Grier >> Vice President of Publications, IEEE Computer Society >> Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy >> Center for International Science and Technology Policy >> Elliott School Of International Affairs >> George Washington University >> grier(a)computer.org >> On Sep 13, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Deborah Douglas wrote: >> >> Colleagues, >> >> 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!). >> >> Thanks, >> >> Debbie Douglas >> >> >> Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. >> Curator of Science and Technology >> MIT Museum, N51-209 >> 265 Massachusetts Avenue >> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 >> ddouglas(a)mit.edu ? ?617-253-1766 phone ?? ?617-253-8994 fax >> http://web.mit.edu/museum ?? ?http://webmuseum.mit.edu ? >> http://museum.mit.edu/150 >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >> and you can change your subscription options at >> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >> and you can change your subscription options at >> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >> > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:53:35 -0400 > From: "Geoffrey C. Bowker" <gbowker(a)pitt.edu> > To: "Coopersmith, Jonathan" <j-coopersmith(a)neo.tamu.edu> > Cc: members(a)sigcis.org > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > Message-ID: <4C8F704F.1030007(a)pitt.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed > > Hi folks, > > I don't know about the largest, but certainly at the forefront. I'd > look to Schlumberger and their and my nemesis Halliburton. Schlumberger > produced the first real intelligent system (Prospector) and were big on > analogue computers when the latter were in their prime. There is a huge > amount of number crunching in seismic and electric subsurface > computing. I doubt that they'd exceed the insurance industry (which > everyone forgets coz it's so prosaic). I wrote a book lo these many > years called Science on the Run which was about the first 20 years of > Schlumberger; there is also a more generic history (mine is quirky) > which goes longer, but have forgotten the title. > > take care, > > geof > > > On 9/13/2010 11:27 PM, Coopersmith, Jonathan wrote: >> Debbie, >> The oil industry has been instrumental in advancing 4-d imaging which is >> real heavy data crunching. I can't give you specifics, but I would not be >> surprised that it was the largest user in the pre-Google era. I know (and >> can give a secondary cite) that in the 1970s the oil industry used encryption >> to fax logging data from ships and rigs to research labs and their computers. >> >> Jonathan >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Deborah Douglas<ddouglas(a)MIT.EDU> >> To: members(a)sigcis.org >> Sent: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:47:25 -0500 (CDT) >> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers >> >> Colleagues, >> >> 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!). >> >> Thanks, >> >> Debbie Douglas >> >> >> Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. >> Curator of Science and Technology >> MIT Museum, N51-209 >> 265 Massachusetts Avenue >> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 >> ddouglas(a)mit.edu ? 617-253-1766 phone ? 617-253-8994 fax >> http://web.mit.edu/museum ? http://webmuseum.mit.edu ? >> http://museum.mit.edu/150 >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >> and you can change your subscription options at >> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >> > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 10:59:26 -0400 > From: JoAnne Yates <jyates(a)MIT.EDU> > To: members(a)sigcis.org > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > Message-ID: <4C8F8DCE.90309(a)mit.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed > > I also have data that reinforces Bernardo's > point that financial services (including > insurance firms) are major computer > purchasers in the 1950s and 1960s. > > JoAnne Yates > MIT Sloan School of Management > > On 9/14/2010 9:47 AM, Bernardo Batiz-Lazo wrote: >> I would disagree in the sense that it depends which geography you are >> looking at. I have some evidence to suggest that banking and financial >> services in general, were large purchasers. >> >> >> Saludos / Kind regards, >> >> Bernardo >> University of Leicester (UK) >> >> >> ================== >> >> Technological Innovation in Retail Finance: >> International Historical Perspectives >> >> Edited by Bernado Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maix?-Alt?s, Paul Thomes >> >> http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671/ >> >> >> >> On 14 September 2010 13:18, David Alan Grier<grier(a)gwu.edu> wrote: >>> 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. >>> 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. >>> David >>> ---------------------------------------- >>> David Alan Grier >>> Vice President of Publications, IEEE Computer Society >>> Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy >>> Center for International Science and Technology Policy >>> Elliott School Of International Affairs >>> George Washington University >>> grier(a)computer.org >>> On Sep 13, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Deborah Douglas wrote: >>> >>> Colleagues, >>> >>> 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!). >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Debbie Douglas >>> >>> >>> Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. >>> Curator of Science and Technology >>> MIT Museum, N51-209 >>> 265 Massachusetts Avenue >>> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 >>> ddouglas(a)mit.edu ? 617-253-1766 phone ? 617-253-8994 fax >>> http://web.mit.edu/museum ? http://webmuseum.mit.edu ? >>> http://museum.mit.edu/150 >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >>> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >>> and you can change your subscription options at >>> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >>> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >>> and you can change your subscription options at >>> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >> and you can change your subscription options at >> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Museum Twitter: http://twitter.com/ComputerHistory

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Petroluem claim: truer for small computers than big ones
by Thomas Haigh 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

The claim is about the early days of computing, and there are two parts: that the petroleum industry was the initial lead consumer, and that the federal government eventually replaced it. We can look at the first two large machines sold commercially in the US: the Univac I and the IBM 701. According to the list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I there were 18 Univac 1 installations. None went to petroleum firms. The first 6 all went to the Federal government. 3 went to insurance companies and several to utilities. The IBM 701 had 18 installations. http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_customers.html None were for petroleum companies. Only three seems to have been directly for the federal government. Eight were for aerospace firms (and so supported by Federal contracts indirectly). A couple went to universities. The IBM 702 customer list is less easily accessible, but I suspect would be dominated by utilities, large manufacturers, and insurance firms. So neither claim holds up for large machines of the first generation. Of course by number the IBM 650 sold far more than any of the other models, but it was by no stretch of the imagination a large number cruncher. According to the Feb 1958 issue of Office Automation, of 472 IBM 650 computers for which data was available (from a population of around 1,100) the biggest user sectors are refinery (9.8%), Aircraft (8.9%), Insurance (8.8%) and electrical and electronic manufacturing firms. (8.4%) About 12% were in the federal govt and military. So the claim holds up much better for small computers in the mid-1950s - refineries are the biggest private sector users, though still not literally true as the Federal government is larger still. Tom

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers
by hemmendd＠union.edu 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

>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!). I have no opinion, but a google search turned up several items that might help refute (or confirm) it: 1. The Leading Edge; January 2006; v. 25; no. 1; p. 12-17; DOI: 10.1190/1.2164747, 2006 Society of Exploration Geophysicists SEG 75th ANNIVERSARY Recollections about the advent of digital seismic technology Al Sabitay, Caversham, Australia The google page that brought this up has an intriguing snippet: In the late 1960s, I understood that 60% of computer use was associated with the search ... (Editor's note: The story of the research that led to the digital revolution in exploration geophysics in the 1960s has been often (and deservedly) told. Less well known is the story of those who had to implement the new concepts and equipment in the field. Here, as part of TLE's series of articles commemorating SEG's 75th Anniversary in 2005, are some recollections about the early digital field work from a longtime geophysicist who had a ringside seat during this revolution and is, coincidentally, 75 years old himself.) 2. Google books: Deconvolution of geophysical time series in the exploration for oil and natural gas, Manuel T. Silvia, Enders A. Robinson: On p. 27: the petroleum exploration industry uses more magnetic computer tape than any other group in the world. 3. Enders Robinson was the first head of the MIT Geophysical Analysis Group (GAG), and developed the deconvolution techniques used in prospecting. In 1997 the IEEE recorded an oral history: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Enders_Robinson . If he's available, he might be able to help. David Hemmendinger hemmendd(a)union.edu Computer Science Dept. http://athena.union.edu/~hemmendd Union College +1 518 388 6319 Schenectady, NY 12308 FAX: +1 518 388 6789

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers
by Bill Degnan 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Hello. This is my first post. The archives at the Hagley Museum in Wilmington Delaware USA will have information on this subject, specific especially to DuPont and IBM but very possibly the entire petroleum industry of the era you're discussing. DuPont, if you include them as part of the petroleum industry, was a significant consumer of computer resources during this time. Best, Bill Degnan University of Delaware Computer History -------- Original Message -------- > From: "Scott Campbell" <sm2campb(a)uwaterloo.ca> > Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 11:12 AM > To: "Deborah Douglas" <ddouglas(a)mit.edu> > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] petroleum and computers > > For what it's worth with regards to the Canadian situation, although > the petroleum industry (particularly Imperial Oil) showed very early > interest in the 1950s in computing, it was never dominant consumer of > computers/computing resources. I don't think the early work was even > related to petroleum seeking, but an inventory control system. We > certainly didn't have much of an aerospace industry in Canada. Here > the power users throughout the 1960s with the big machines were > finance (banking and insurance) and to a lesser degree, governments. > > Scott > > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 18:47, Deborah Douglas <ddouglas(a)mit.edu> wrote: > > Colleagues, > > > > 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!). > > > > Thanks, > > > > Debbie Douglas > > > > > > Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. > > Curator of Science and Technology > > MIT Museum, N51-209 > > 265 Massachusetts Avenue > > Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 > > ddouglas(a)mit.edu . 617-253-1766 phone . 617-253-8994 fax > > http://web.mit.edu/museum . http://webmuseum.mit.edu . > > http://museum.mit.edu/150 > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of > > SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ > > and you can change your subscription options at > > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members

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petroleum and computers
by Deborah Douglas 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Colleagues, 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!). Thanks, Debbie Douglas Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. Curator of Science and Technology MIT Museum, N51-209 265 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 ddouglas(a)mit.edu • 617-253-1766 phone • 617-253-8994 fax http://web.mit.edu/museum • http://webmuseum.mit.edu • http://museum.mit.edu/150

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Self-introduction
by Federico Gobbo 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Dear colleagues, just a brief note in order to introduce myself to the mailing list. My name is Federico Gobbo and I currently belong to the University of Insubria, Varese, Italy. The last academic year I was a Privatdozent in History of Computing in my University, after being a tutor in Computing and Philosophy during my PhD years. Delving into the history of ideas at the foundation of Computer Science I developed an interest in the intertwining between the history of philosophy, logics, mathematics, computation and the birth of the discipline. I feel that mostly philosophy of computing neglets the historical aspects, thus I proposed a different point of view about nowadays popular topics such as the impact of web 2.0 technologies – in particular social networks – and new technologies of writing (blogs, wikis, etc.). In general, I think I will read (and learn) your messages in the mailing list, so thank you all for your kind attention. Best regards, Federico Gobbo -- http://federicogobbo.name

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History of open-source
by Evan Koblentz 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Apologies if I've asked this before .... does anyone know of a solid history of open-source computing?

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