Dear All:

I write with a query concerning an early program written in the programming language COBOL.  In December of 1960, the same COBOL programs ran successfully on computers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA.  To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the occasion, and the origin of common programming languages more generally, we are planning a small web site and exhibit.  One object shown will be the printout of the programs as run at RCA.  One of these programs was (according to the printout) written by Carl H. Thorne, Jr., who was a programmer at the General Services Administration.  The second is (again according to the printout) by J. Farinelli.  Other sources indicate that this was a modification of a program developed by Warren G. Simmons of US Steel for a UNIVAC II.  I’d like to know Farinelli’s sex, full name and professional association.  I’ve been unable to find Farinelli’s name in documents by UNIVAC programmers, in ACM directories or in standard bibliographical sources.  Suggestions welcome!

Peggy A. Kidwell

Curator of Mathematics

Division of Science & Medicine

MRC671, NMAH

Smithsonian Institution

P.O. Box 37012

Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

address for FedEx and UPS:

NMAH, Smithsonian Institution

12th St. & Constitution

Washington, D.C. 20560

telephone: 202-633-3828

fax: 202-633-9273

email: kidwellp@si.edu