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The Man from the Future by Ananyo Bhattacharya review – the life of John von Neumann
by Brian Randell 28 Oct '21

28 Oct '21

Hi: My attention has just been drawn to the review in The Guardian of " The Man from the Future" by Ananyo Bhattacharya. It starts: An expert on everything from game theory to Byzantine history, the inspiration for Dr Strangelove was as brilliant as he was dangerous. "A quaint and ceremonious village of puny demigods on stilts,” wrote Albert Einstein to the queen of Belgium. It was November 1933 and Einstein had been in Princeton, New Jersey, for just a month having left Europe after the Nazis’ rise to power. The celebrated physicist wasn’t referring to the ordinary citizens of the famous university town but to some of his new colleagues. Einstein’s recruitment by the Institute for Advanced Study was like a modern-day star signing for a football club backed by a Russian oligarch. His presence there soon attracted a stellar collection of mathematicians. The brightest of these was a 30-year-old Hungarian. John von Neumann was a mathematical prodigy who published his first paper at 18. As far removed from the caricature of the bookish, socially awkward mathematician as possible, he was a charming, party-loving, hard-drinking raconteur who mastered ancient Greek, Latin, French, German, English and Hungarian as a child growing up in Budapest. He was also capable of chillingly cold calculation, and an attitude to human life in the context of the cold war that can seem breathtaking in its ruthlessness. Nevertheless, despite being the real-life model for Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove, he helped usher in the computer age. There was certainly no doubt about his intellect. To entertain his friends, he would recite verbatim passages from books read years before. An unnamed historian, so the story goes, would only attend one of Von Neumann’s legendary parties if they didn’t discuss Byzantine history, since he wanted to maintain his reputation as the world’s foremost expert. <snip> Full story at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/13/the-man-from-the-future-by-an… Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html

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Linda Hall Library: Apply now for 2022-23 Fellowships!
by Benjamin Gross 26 Oct '21

26 Oct '21

Dear SIGCIS Friends: The Linda Hall Library<https://www.lindahall.org/> is now accepting applications for its 2022-23 fellowship program. These fellowships provide graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and independent scholars in the history of science and related fields with financial support to explore the Library’s outstanding science and engineering collections. Fellows also participate in a dynamic intellectual community alongside in-house experts and scholars from other Kansas City cultural and educational institutions. The Linda Hall Library holds nearly half a million monographs and more than 43,000 journal titles documenting the history of science and technology from the 15th century to the present. Its collections are exceptionally strong in the engineering disciplines, chemistry, and physics. The Library also boasts extensive resources related to natural history, astronomy, earth science, environmental studies, aeronautics, life science, infrastructure studies, mathematics, and the history of the book. The Linda Hall Library is offering three types of fellowships during the 2022-23 academic year: – Residential fellowships (1-4 months) support scholars who travel to Kansas City to conduct research in the Library's collections. – The History of Science and Medicine fellowship (1 month) supports a doctoral student who travels to Kansas City to conduct research at the Linda Hall Library and the Clendening History of Medicine Library<https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-p…> at the University of Kansas Medical Center. – Virtual fellowships (1-4 months) support scholars working remotely using resources from the Library’s digital collections. Virtual fellows receive personalized research assistance from reference staff and may request complimentary scans of Library resources in accordance with our in-house digitization policies. In each case, fellowship funding is offered at a rate of $3,000 per month for doctoral students and $4,200 per month for postdoctoral researchers. The Linda Hall Library is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive research environment and encourages members of any groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in academia to apply for fellowship support. Please share this announcement with graduate students, colleagues, or anyone else who might be interested in the Library’s fellowship program. All application materials are due no later than January 21, 2022. For further information, visit https://www.lindahall.org/fellowships/ or e-mail fellowships(a)lindahall.org<mailto:fellowships@lindahall.org>. Thank you! Ben Gross Benjamin Gross, PhD Vice President for Research and Scholarship Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology 5109 Cherry Street Kansas City, Missouri 64110 816.926.8718 grossb(a)lindahall.org<mailto:grossb@lindahall.org> www.lindahall.org<http://www.lindahall.org/>

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DARPA history
by Brian E Carpenter 24 Oct '21

24 Oct '21

This may be old news here, but over on the Internet History list, Jack Haverty has flagged the ARPANET section of the 1990 ADA report (see below for details). I see that there are chapters on several other interesting topics (and much more besides): INFORMATION PROCESSING XVIII. ILLIAC IV XIX. Project MAC: Computer Time Sharing XX. ARPANET XXI. Artificial Intelligence XXII. Morse Code Reader XX III. ACCAT (Advanced Command and Control Architectural Testbed) Regards Brian Carpenter -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [ih] ARPANET history Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2021 15:27:23 -0700 From: Jack Haverty via Internet-history <internet-history(a)elists.isoc.org> Reply-To: Jack Haverty <jack(a)3kitty.org> To: Internet History list <internet-history(a)elists.isoc.org> FYI, I stumbled across a government report written in 1990 but that I hadn't seen before now. It contains a summary of the creation and evolution of the ARPANET and the beginnings of the Internet. Where it talks about things that I personally experienced, it agrees with my recollections. So I tend to trust the other things it says that are new to me even today. I thought that internet-historians might be interested too. The report is non-technical, but highlights some of the reasons for the success of the project, leading to the Internet we have today, such as the way in which people moved around between organizations, political and managerial decisions within parts of the government, activities for moving the technology from research to operations, and other such non-technical drivers of the success of the Internet. See https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA239925.pdf -- Chapter XX (page 243) /Jack Haverty -- Internet-history mailing list Internet-history(a)elists.isoc.org https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history

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Book on Klára Dán von Neumann
by Crystal Bennes 23 Oct '21

23 Oct '21

Hello SIGCIS, Some of you may have come across this already via Twitter, but I wanted to share my upcoming photobook project, Klara and the Bomb, in the event that it might be of interest to some. Through the lens of the life and work of Klara von Neumann, the book charts connecting threads between the invention of modern computers, the history of nuclear weapons development in the United States, women programmers, military photography and nuclear colonialism. The book combines archival research and historical images with my own fieldwork photographs, texts and interviews. The book will be published in May 2022, and I am currently fundraising remaining printing costs through book pre-sales. The book is £35 (including UK postage, postage outside the UK is extra) and is available for pre-order here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/632375787/klara-and-the-bomb There are only 11 days remaining in the pre-order campaign, and I would be very grateful for any support from the SIGCIS community. Very best wishes, Crystal -------------- Crystal Bennes Artist & Writer Cultural Negotiation of ScienceNorthumbria UniversityNewcastle upon Tyne, UK +44(0)7480478205crystal.bennes(a)northumbria.ac.ukwebsite twitterinstagram Pre-order my forthcoming photobook, Klara and the Bomb

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Seeking book recommendations for teaching
by Troy Astarte 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

Dear SIG:CIS, I have recently started a teaching role and have the opportunity to develop taught content from scratch. I want to include a significant influence from history of computing, history of technology, and STS—topics, approaches, methods. I’m looking for recommendations of books and other works to help in this: either for inclusion on reading lists, or to help me prepare more effective material. For example, I would be very grateful for a comprehensive and accessible book on the history of a particular technology, or a monograph on diversifying curricula. No suggestions are too obvious. Even if I already know them, others on-list may not. Thanks in advance! Best, Dr. Troy Kaighin Astarte (they/them) Lecturer, Computer Science Swansea University For students: my office hours are Wednesday 1500–1700 and you can enter my personal Zoom room during that time.

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Register free: for HAPOC next week, online & in Zurich
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

Hello SIGCIS, Just a reminder that the 6th International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HAPOC) will be getting underway in Zurich next week. It's a hybrid event, and registration is free at https://hapoc2021.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/16. For in person participants that even include free meals if you register by Sunday, Oct 24. For those of you who can't make it to Zurich, no food but the talks will still be free. The program (https://hapoc2021.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/14) kicks off at 09:00 on Oct 27 and wraps up at 14:00 on Oct 29. An exciting lineup of talks, including Turing Award winner Barbara Liskov (https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/liskov_1108679.cfm) I'll be giving one of the keynotes at 14:00 local time, with the title "Becoming Universal: A New History of Modern Computing." The picks up on one of the themes of my new book with Paul Ceruzzi - we see the entire history of computing as a series of transformations in which the computer becomes new things. Our idea of a complex historical process through which computer technology slowly approximated universal status contrasts with the logicians' view of computer history, in which the modern computer was universal from the very beginning because it could be equated with Turing's universal machine. That seemed topical as the event is hosted by the Turing Center at ETH. I hope I'll have a chance to catch up with a few of you there, and rediscover what a somewhat in person event feels like. Best wishes, Tom www.tomandmaria.com/tom <http://www.tomandmaria.com/tom>

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2022 Facct Conference Call for Papers Open!
by FAccT Publicity 20 Oct '21

20 Oct '21

Dear all, The Call for Papers for ACM FAccT 2022 is now open! Details can be found at: https://facctconference.org/2022/cfp.html ACM FAccT solicits work from a wide variety of disciplines, including computer science, statistics, law, social sciences, the humanities, and policy, and multidisciplinary scholarships on fairness, accountability and transparency in computational systems (broadly construed). We welcome contributions that consider dimensions beyond individual decisions, including equity and justice in systems, policy, and human rights. We welcome submissions in the following areas: Algorithm Development e.g. Fairness; Interpretable and explainable models; Causality; Data collection and curation Data and Algorithm Evaluation e.g. Metrics; Audits; Evaluations, both quantitative and qualitative Applications e.g. Natural Language Processing; Computer vision; Health;Information retrieval; Recommender systems; Programming languages; Databases Human Factors e.g. Human-computer interaction; Humans-in-the-loop; Information visualization; UX design; Community or participatory-research design Privacy and Security e.g. Formal approaches; Privacy-preserving models; Usable privacy and security Law e.g. Data protection; Non-discrimination; Fair Procedures; Human Rights; Oversight mechanisms Policy e.g. Organizational governance; Codes of ethics; models from historically marginalized perspectives Historical and Cultural Critiques e.g. Interrogating foundational concepts; Bridging critical concepts across fields; Historical perspectives on FAccT issues Philosophy e.g. Philosophical foundations of machine learning; values in scientific inquiry; social epistemology; moral, legal and political philosophy of data and AI Social Sciences e.g. Algorithms and computing in organizations and institutions, including education; Social and cultural shaping of algorithmic phenomena; algorithmic impacts on social phenomena We especially welcome contributions that incorporate perspectives and investigations on FAccT that are relevant to or grounded in the cultures, norms, laws, and/or sociopolitical systems from regions that are usually not featured prominently at FAccT, which has so far been composed mainly of North American and European scholarship. Announcements about our call for tutorials, CRAFT, a doctoral colloquium and a number of special initiatives to follow soon! Questions? Contact the Program Co-chairs: program-chairs(a)facctconference.org. And stay tuned for updates by following @facctconference on Twitter or joining the FACCT-ANNOUNCE listserv. Paper pre-registration: November 19, 2021 Paper submission: December 3, 2021 Conference: week of June 20, 2022 All deadlines are at 11:59 PM anywhere on earth (AoE) on the given date. Best wishes, Deb Raji & Annette Zimmermann Publicity Co-Chairs Fairness, Accountability and Transparency conference

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2022-23 Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information Technology Announcement (Application Deadline is Jan. 15, 2022)
by Jeffrey Yost 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

Dear Colleagues, FYI--The Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information, and Culture is delighted to announce this coming year's Tomash Fellowship competition. Best, Jeff2022-23 CBI Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information TechnologyEach year the Tomash Doctoral Fellowship is awarded to and provides a $14,000 stipend to a standout (ABD) graduate student for doctoral dissertation research in the history of computing and culture. Past Fellows <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/past-tomash-fellows> are among the leading scholars in computing history/studies. The Tomash Doctoral Fellowship is named for and funded by an endowment created by Adelle and Erwin Tomash, the founders of the Charles Babbage Institute.Application Requirements (Deadline is January 15, 2022)Please provide a curriculum vitae and a five-page (single-spaced) statement and justification of the research project including a discussion of methods, research materials, and bibliography (bibliography does not count toward page count). Applicants should also arrange for three letters of reference and certified copies of graduate school transcripts to be sent directly to CBI. Application materials should be sent to cbi(a)umn.edu. Please direct questions about the Tomash Fellowship to Jeffrey Yost, CBI Director, yostx003(a)umn.edu Additional information is on the Tomash Fellowship page of the CBI Website Tomash Fellowship <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/adelle-and-erwin-tomash-fellowship-history-informat…> *"Injustice wears the same harsh face wherever it shows itself."*-Ralph Ellison Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute Research Professor, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Co-Editor (w/ Gerardo Con Diaz) *Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins University Press* *Committee Member, **National Academies, NAE Extraordinary Engineering Impacts on Society * Founder and Co-Editor (w/ Amanda Wick), *Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture* *Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press 2017)* <https://www.amazon.com/Making-Work-Computer-Services-Computing/dp/026203672X> 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624 5050 Phone 612 625 8054 Fax

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A Biography of the Pixel
by Brian Randell 15 Oct '21

15 Oct '21

Hi: I've now completed reading "A Biography of the Pixel", and preparing the following review, which I've just uploaded to Amazon: Alvy Ray Smith's "A Biography of the Pixel" is simply wonderful. It's not just very readable, it's a real tour de force, in terms of the amount of fascinating historical and technical information it contains, and the brilliant way it explains everything, from Universal Turing Machines to the intricacies of the computer-animation techniques involved in the making of the movie Toy Story. The author, an eminent computer research scientist, was one of the two co-founders of Pixar, the pioneering and highly-successful American computer animation studio, now a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. He argues very convincingly that just three ideas - waves, computations, and pixels - underlie all the apparent complexity of Digital Light. This is his term for "the vast realm that includes any picture, for any purpose, made from pixels. It extends from parking meters to virtual reality, from dashboards to digital movies and television . . . anything mediated by pixels." (Pixels are profound abstract concepts - "samples of the visual world that are represented by little squares of color".) The book's starting points are the work of Joseph Fourier on waves - an analogue idea - and the (digital) concepts of computation and computability of Alan Turing. I must admit that before I read this book I did not understand that: "Nothing is lost by going to digital. A discrete digital thing can faithfully represent a smooth analogue thing". This is a very subtle idea that Smith traces back to the work of the Russian scientist Vladimir Kotelnikov in the 1930s on the Sampling Theorem, which he explains and illustrates with remarkable clarity. As Smith puts it: "Each [of these three ideas] is intuitively simple, profound, and beautiful. These are the technological cornerstones of our modern world, and you don't need mathematics to understand them." The first three chapters present these foundational ideas and provide fascinating accounts of the people who made them possible. The following chapter is about the race to build the first actual electronic computer - a race (very narrowly) won by Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn with their 'Baby' machine at Manchester University, which Smith shows was also the first computer to display a picture constructed from pixels, i.e. to "create Digital Light". In this and subsequent chapters Smith does an excellent job of placing all the developments that he describes in their historical context. He avoids the trap of providing simplistic linear narratives of history. Instead, "for the history of each technology, [he] designed a family flow chart [showing] who got what from whom (whether by hook or by crook) and the often-dense interplay of the cast of players". Each such chart acts as an introduction and explanatory guide to a chapter of detailed stories of the people involved and intuitive presentations of their ideas. By these means, Smith tells the story of Digital Light across a number of eras, each characterised by huge improvements in digital technology and computer capability. He takes this story up to the end of the 20th century, and the first digital movies, most notably Pixar's immensely successful Toy Story, the first entirely computer-animated feature film. It is a great story, and Smith tells it brilliantly. Full dislosure: The author sought my advice on some aspects of the early history of digital computers, and kindly mentions my name in the Acknowledgements. However I did not see any of the rest of his book prior to its publication. Expanding a little on the above: The account of the history of computers is very good, but is understandably focussed on issues of most relevance to Digital Light, and on fundamental computational concepts rather than technology, though the impact of technological progress and of Moore's Law are very well covered. Thus it does not provide information on all the early computers and computer pioneers, or cover the growth of the computer industry in general. ENIAC and Colossus are discussed, but not detailed, and neither John Mauchly nor Tommy Flowers are mentioned. However, its detailed well-illustrated explanations of the Universal Turing Machine, and of Sampling Theory, and later of various very sophisticated computer animation techniques, together with the biographical details given of the many scientists and engineers involved, are great! Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html

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Query: mobile phones and science fiction
by Andrew Butrica 14 Oct '21

14 Oct '21

Does the phone given by Dr. Who to Rose Tyler to call him through space and time count? He altered her mobile phone for that purpose, and she dubbed it her "superphone." Subsequent friends of The Doctor also had their mobiles upgraded to "superphone" abilities. The "superphone" was used as a plot device on several occasions. I don't think I've seen any conversation about it. Andrew J. Butrica, Ph.D. Research Historian Sent from my Xylo Phone

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