Re: [SIGCIS-Members] My column on Turing and the Invention of the Computer
At 12:47 PM 1/17/2014, Thomas Haigh wrote:
...You may be interested in my newly published Communications of the ACM Column "Actually, Turing Did Not Invent the Computer." ... I think also that the public really has room in its
collective memory for just one famous person per technology, usually its inventor. ...
There is indeed a public craving for lone heroic inventors. As an amateur historian I enjoy giving a talk whose title will make the professional historians here cringe: "Who Invented The Computer, and Why Don't You Know?". (The audience is often senior citizens. This is sometimes called the "rubber chicken circuit"; see wiki/Rubber_chicken.) You will be relieved to know that I don't answer the question. I talk about Babbage, Zuse, Turing, Atanasoff/Berry, Aiken, Eckert/Mauchly, William/Kilburn, Von Neumann, and Wilkes. All this in 50 minutes! I do confess to the audience that if I were subjected to torture and required to answer the question, I would unapologetically name Babbage as the first inventor of a computer that was never built. An excellent article, Tom, and a fun read. -- Len Dr. Leonard Shustek Chairman, Computer History Museum www.computerhistory.org
I want to bear witness to Len’s comments here. He has a really great ‘rubber chicken circuit speech’ on this; it should be posted and required reading for all of us. He gave it for one of our local senior citizens groups and they all got out their canes and stomped ‘em in appreciation. Chuck Exec Director InnovaScapes Institute On Jan 17, 2014, at 5:31 PM, Len Shustek <lshustek@computerhistory.org> wrote:
At 12:47 PM 1/17/2014, Thomas Haigh wrote:
...You may be interested in my newly published Communications of the ACM Column "Actually, Turing Did Not Invent the Computer." ... I think also that the public really has room in its collective memory for just one famous person per technology, usually its inventor. ...
There is indeed a public craving for lone heroic inventors. As an amateur historian I enjoy giving a talk whose title will make the professional historians here cringe: "Who Invented The Computer, and Why Don't You Know?". (The audience is often senior citizens. This is sometimes called the "rubber chicken circuit"; see wiki/Rubber_chicken.)
You will be relieved to know that I don't answer the question. I talk about Babbage, Zuse, Turing, Atanasoff/Berry, Aiken, Eckert/Mauchly, William/Kilburn, Von Neumann, and Wilkes. All this in 50 minutes! I do confess to the audience that if I were subjected to torture and required to answer the question, I would unapologetically name Babbage as the first inventor of a computer that was never built.
An excellent article, Tom, and a fun read.
-- Len
Dr. Leonard Shustek Chairman, Computer History Museum www.computerhistory.org
_______________________________________________ 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
"Babbage as the first inventor of a computer that was never built" Thanks for this remarkable definition ! To the list established by Len Shustek, and as we are talking about heroic figures, I would add Sir Winston Churchill. In ch. 9 of his memoirs, "My Early Life: 1874-1904" ("Education at Bangalore"), he took a realistic stand regarding the philosophy of knowledge, and for his demonstration fancied an imaginary, solar-powered "automatic calculating machine". Churchill published this in 1930, six years before Turing's seminal paper. We may wonder whether the young Cambridge mathematician read the memoirs of the old politician... Best wishes, Pierre Mounier-Kuhn ----- Mail original ----- De: "Len Shustek" <lshustek@computerhistory.org> À: members@sigcis.org Envoyé: Samedi 18 Janvier 2014 02:31:59 Objet: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] My column on Turing and the Invention of the Computer At 12:47 PM 1/17/2014, Thomas Haigh wrote:
...You may be interested in my newly published Communications of the ACM Column "Actually, Turing Did Not Invent the Computer." ... I think also that the public really has room in its
collective memory for just one famous person per technology, usually its inventor. ...
There is indeed a public craving for lone heroic inventors. As an amateur historian I enjoy giving a talk whose title will make the professional historians here cringe: "Who Invented The Computer, and Why Don't You Know?". (The audience is often senior citizens. This is sometimes called the "rubber chicken circuit"; see wiki/Rubber_chicken.) You will be relieved to know that I don't answer the question. I talk about Babbage, Zuse, Turing, Atanasoff/Berry, Aiken, Eckert/Mauchly, William/Kilburn, Von Neumann, and Wilkes. All this in 50 minutes! I do confess to the audience that if I were subjected to torture and required to answer the question, I would unapologetically name Babbage as the first inventor of a computer that was never built. An excellent article, Tom, and a fun read. -- Len Dr. Leonard Shustek Chairman, Computer History Museum www.computerhistory.org _______________________________________________ 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
participants (3)
-
Chuck House -
Len Shustek -
Pierre MOUNIER-KUHN