At 20:54 -0400 18/3/08, Bernard Geoghegan wrote:
Hi SIGCIS members, I'm doing some research on the 20th century exhibition of computers, particularly in the form of automata and televised calculating machines. I'd like to look for some historical precedents, though. Does anyone know of any works discussing the exhibition of calculating machines from the 17th through the 19th century? For example, in the 19th century calculating machines were sent to at least one World's Fair, and in in the 18th c. von Kempelen's chess playing Turk inspired popular speculations and exciting about thinking machines, etc. Thanks for your help. Bernard
Bernard Geoghegan Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
One of the best i know, though slightly out of your time frame, is: Napier Tercentenary Celebration: Handbook of the Exhibition, ed. E. M. Horsburgh, pp. 124-127, Edinburgh, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1914. [(Also published as Modern Instruments and Methods of Calculation: A Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration Exhibition, G. Bell and Sons, London, 1914.)] Cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/