Thanks a lot, Paul, Aristotle and Iannis ! That's very helpful. Yes, Lang's lively paper survived all filters. In return, a small picture of a 1950 Analogue Computer (SEA OME-P2), which was recently restored and listed among French Industrial Heritage items: http://www.aconit.org/histoire/a_sea_ome.php Best, Pierre. Mounier-Kuhn Le 19 mai 10 à 13:37, Paul Edwards a écrit :
James Small's dissertation did finally get published as a book:
The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930–1975 (Routledge, 2001).
It's a terrific book and the only thing of its kind about computers (stops in 1975, as the title mentions, though). Unfortunately it is insanely expensive - well over $100, and not many used copies floating around.
A couple of chapters were published as stand-alones in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.
Other resources:
Mark Bowles, "U.S. Technological Enthusiasm and British Technological Skepticism in the Age of the Analog Brain" (IEEE Annals)
Lang, "Analog was not a Computer Trademark! Why Would Anyone Write About Analog Computers In Year 2000?," Sound and Vibration (August 2000, attached to this email if the attachment survives the filter)
Paul <Lang 2000 Analog Was Not A Computer Trademark.pdf>
On May 19, 2010, at 4:46 AM, Aristotle Tympas wrote:
Hi Pierre,
A welcomed addition to the history of the analog-digital relationship is that by Charles Care, who defended his dissertation at the University of Warwick in 2008. Care integrates this history into the history of modeling. You may also want to check relevant articles in Care's webpage at the University of Warwick.
David Mindell's 'Between Human and Machine' is, in my opinion, a must for those who want to study this relationship. But it is focused on an earlier period than the one that your student is interested in and it is more focused on on-line computing (computing as integrated into control-regulation). The dissertation by James Small (part of which made it to articles in the 'Annals of the History of Computing' and 'History and Technology', one in each) is more relevant in regards to period. For a suggestive study on the social meaning of analog technology from a context other than computers, I would recommend the book 'Analog Days: the invention and impact of the moon synthesizer' (by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, 2002).
A wonderful but extremely demanding theoretically book on the analog-digital relationship from the early 1970s (1972) was written by Antony Wilden (System and Structure: Essays on Communication). I thought of it upon reading your email because it follows this relationship in contexts of some relevance to what we now call neurobiology.
Because of your student's chronological focus, I would also suggest looking at the understudied history of hybrid analog-digital computer structures. For my own try at briefly introducing this history in the context of an encyclopedic entry, see Aristotle Tympas, ‘Computers: Hybrid’, in Encyclopedia of 20th –Century Technology, Colin Hempstead (editor), Routledge, London, Great Britain, 2005, 202-204. Also, for a survey of some preceding works on the history of analog computing, you may see the references in Aristotle Tympas, ‘Computers: Analog’, in Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Technology, Colin Hempstead (editor), Routledge, London, Great Britain, 2005, 195-199.
I hope this helps,
Telly
Hello,
One of our students is studying the early use of electronic computers in neurophysiology, and has hit upon a 1967 controversy between Experimental/ Analogue and Digital approaches, when DEC LINCs were installed. What reading would you recommend on this topic ? (I remember James Small addressed this controversy in his dissertation, some 20 years ago - and so did, more recently, Paul Edwards in "The Closed World")
Thanks ! Pierre Mounier-Kuhn
CNRS & Université Paris-Sorbonne 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris