Martin,
For continental Europe, I would consider two meetings as major steps toward a "Computer Science awareness":
- The founding conference of IFIP at Unesco (Paris, 1959), which offered a vast overview on novel research themes (languages, etc.), beyond the use of computers as tools for numerical analysis. The proceedings can be found online to check whether the very term “computer science” was used.
- The meeting hosted in October 1961 at IBM’s European education center (Blaricum, Netherlands) on the Relationship Between Non-numerical Programming and the Theory of Formal Systems. John McCarthy presented his manifesto, “A Basis for a Mathematical Theory of Computation”, proclaiming the foundation of a new science of computation based on numerical analysis, recursive function theory and automata theory.
(I wrote something about it in http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/file/12)
The quest for a term equivalent to "Computer Science" before 1960 is revealed by neologisms: "Informatik" in Germany and "Automatique des informations" in France, both in 1957 – partly to distinguish computing from cybernetics.
Martin,
That's an excellent question; I am also exploring this area. Most people seem to date the term to Louis Fein's 1959 article "The Role of the University in Computers, Data Processing, and Related Fields," which uses the plural "computer sciences." The term is also used in Philip Morse's 1960 "Report on a Conference of University Computing Center Directors," which describes actual computer science programs at universities. By 1962 you start to see advertisements using the term, which may indicate broad acceptance. For example:
1962 ad in American Scientist by Research Analysis Corporation (Bethesda, MD): “New Directions in Computer Science.” ... “RAC scientists, engineers, and computer analysts ... reach well beyond the existing body of knowledge in computer science. The results have been twofold—new capabilities to predict and control, and new contributions to computer science and science in general.” RAC “currently offers career appointments to physicists, engineers, mathematicians, economists, and computer scientists, with graduate degrees.”
This mainly applies to the US. I think "information science" or "informatics" may have been more common in Europe.
References:
Fein, Louis. "The Role of the University in Computers, Data Processing, and Related Fields." Communications of the ACM 2, no. 9 (1959): 7-14.
Morse, Philip M. . "Report on a Conference of University Computing Center Directors (June 2-4 1960)." Commun. ACM 3, no. 10 (1960): 519-21.
Janet
Dr. Janet Abbate
Associate Professor
Science & Technology in Society
Virginia Tech
www.sts.vt.edu/ncr
www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055
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On Jun 28, 2013, at 1:59 43PM, Martin Campbell-Kelly wrote:I’m trying to find when the term “computer science” came into general use. The term “software” seems to be quite accurately dated as appearing in 1960 in several contemporary publications, but I have found nothing similar for computer science.Martin—Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer ScienceUniversity of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.voice: +44 24 7652 3193 fax: +44 24 7657 3024email: M.Campbell-Kelly@warwick.ac.uk_______________________________________________This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are athttp://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
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This email is relayed from members@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