Dear Ulf, This set of problems is indeed very important to the history of computing, by my count. I recall a particularly powerful letter from Von Neumann to Oswald Veblen, sent by Von Neumann during a 1943 visit to the UK [my emphasis added]: “I think that I see clearly that the best course for me at present is to concentrate on Ordinance work, and the Gas Dynamical matters connected therewith. I think I have learned here a good deal of experimental physics, particularly of the Gas Dynamical variety, and that I shall return a better and *impurer* man. I have also developed an *obscene* interest in computational techniques. I am looking forward to discussing these matters with you. I really feel like proselytizing — even if I am going to tell you only things which you have known much longer than I did.” (Quoted in full in Bill Aspray’s *John Von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing*, 27. Original letter from 21 May 1943, Oswald Veblen Papers, Library of Congress). That Von Neumann spent some time at the Nautical Almanac Office (L.J. Comrie’s old haunt) during this trip is, I think, significant. I have recently enjoyed thinking about these matters along lines outlined by Robert Moir in his chapter “Feasible Computation: Methodological Contributions from Computer Science” in *Physical Perspectives on Computation, Computational Perspectives on Physics*, ed. Michael E. Cuffaro and Samuel C. Fletcher (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). Perhaps these “feasible computations” are quite central to the history of modern computing, although I am not entirely convinced by Moir’s claim that we can “trace the historical origins of the … approximate form of [feasible computation] to techniques developed by physicists to overcome the computational limitations of the mathematical formulation of theories and models of natural phenomenon.” (see “Feasible Computation,” 174). I’m afraid that I don’t possess the technical expertise to be of much more help in terms of 20th century “fluid dynamics,” but if your work on feasible methods ever brings you back to the 17th century (as it did Herman Goldstine in his *History of Numerical Analysis*), please drop me a line! Best, Patrick Graham Graduate student at the University of Minnesota Program in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine On Tue, Sep 22, 2020 at 1:09 AM Ulf Hashagen <u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de> wrote:

Dear colleagues,

I became interested in the history of "Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Software" last week, but could not find much historical source material on this topic so far. May I ask for your advice and comments?

Best, Ulf

-- PD Dr. Ulf Hashagen Leitung / Head Forschungsinstitut für Technik- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte / The Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology Deutsches Museum Museumsinsel 1 80538 München / Munich Germany Tel. +49/(0)89/2179-453 Fax +49/(0)89/2179-239 u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/forschung/wissenschaftl-mitarbeiter/pd-dr-ulf...

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(resending this since it did not seem to go to the SIGCIS list) Dear Ulf, This may be because such software goes under different names in different fields, not always directly labeled “computational fluid dynamics” or even “fluid dynamics." The first two fields to take on the computational simulation of fluid dynamics were atomic weapons research and meteorology/climate science. My book on climate science, A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (2010), describes (among other things) the history of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, now at Princeton, one of the first labs to design such software starting in the 1950s. A major element of all modern climate models is a “dynamical core,” which simulates the physics of fluid flows (air) around the globe. Ocean models also have one. Both atomic weapons researchers and climate modelers used this textbook on methods for solving partial differential equations using finite difference techniques in the late 1950s: Richtmyer, R. D. (1957). Difference Methods for Initial-Value Problems. New York: Interscience Publishers. The last chapter is on fluid dynamics. Aircraft and ship design now rely heavily on simulating fluid flows, previously done physically in wind tunnels and tanks. The physics of turbulent boundary layers is one aspect of this modeling, again not naming “fluid dynamics” directly. I hope this gives you some hints for your search. Best, Paul On Sep 21, 2020, at 23:09, Ulf Hashagen <u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de<mailto:u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de>> wrote: Dear colleagues, I became interested in the history of "Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Software" last week, but could not find much historical source material on this topic so far. May I ask for your advice and comments? Best, Ulf -- PD Dr. Ulf Hashagen Leitung / Head Forschungsinstitut für Technik- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte / The Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology Deutsches Museum Museumsinsel 1 80538 München / Munich Germany Tel. +49/(0)89/2179-453 Fax +49/(0)89/2179-239 u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de<mailto:u.hashagen@deutsches-museum.de> http://www.deutsches-museum.de/forschung/wissenschaftl-mitarbeiter/pd-dr-ulf... _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org ________________________ Paul N. Edwards<https://profiles.stanford.edu/paul-edwards> Director, Program on Science, Technology & Society<http://sts.stanford.edu/> William J. Perry Fellow in International Security and Senior Research Scholar Center for International Security and Cooperation<http://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/> Co-Director, Stanford Existential Risks Initiative<https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/stanford-existential-risks-initiative> Stanford University Professor of Information<http://www.si.umich.edu/> and History<http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/> (Emeritus) University of Michigan