Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/10/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jay Forester independently invented core memory. I think a) Forester was first, and b) his arrangement of wiring reflected the most commonly used one. My info is not certain, so if you know more about the comparison of the two patents, please enlighten me. Herb Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org Question Authority and the authorities will question you. > On Oct 20, 2015, at 7:25 AM, Larry Zeitlin via LUG <lug at > leica-users.org> wrote: > > Herbert Kramer?s photos of the Babbage Difference Engine are revealing. To > modern computer nerds it is the Holy Grail of technology, often discussed > but never seen. As a young college student I used to walk by a building on > campus that emitted sounds like a threshing machine. One day I wandered in > and found that it was the home of the Aiken Mark 1 computer, a 30 foot > long electro mechanical device that was like a Frieden Calculating machine > on steroids. The noise was the sound of thousands of relays opening and > closing. It took 3 seconds to add a pair of numbers, about 16 seconds to > divide them. Dr. Aiken started work on it before WW2 to crank out data for > the military. I was shown around the lab by An Wang, a graduate student, > who later invented the core memory and founded Wang computing.The Babbge > Enngine looks like the guts of an old Freiden Calculator instead of a > combination of a Hammond organ and a telephone switchboard. Neither looks > like my iPhone at all. > Larry Z > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >