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The U.S. Military and the History of Computing

The U.S. Military and the History of Computing. War! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing! -Edwin Starr. Necessity is the mother of…. Thank the U.S. Military for: Game consoles Cell phones Internet OnStar and GPS iPods Personal Computers Digital cameras Email Text messaging.

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The U.S. Military and the History of Computing

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  1. The U.S. Military and the History of Computing War! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing! -Edwin Starr

  2. Necessity is the mother of… • Thank the U.S. Military for: • Game consoles • Cell phones • Internet • OnStar and GPS • iPods • Personal Computers • Digital cameras • Email • Text messaging

  3. Manual Calculators • 1200 BC - The abacus • 1600 AD – John Napier & Napier’s Bones • 1621 AD – William Oughtred Slide Rule

  4. Napier’s Bones

  5. Napier’s Bones http://nrich.maths.org/public/terms.php

  6. Mechanical Calculators • 1500 AD - Da Vinci sketches a mechanical calculator • 1623 – Wilhelm Schickard’s Calculator • 1642 – Blaise Pascal invents the Pascaline • 1673 – Gottfried W. von Leibniz Calculator • 1800 - Joseph-Marie Jacquard's loom Photos courtesy IBM

  7. Schickard’s Calculator

  8. Jacquard's loom

  9. Jacquard's loom

  10. Mechanical Calculators • 1822 – Charles Babbage creates the Difference Engine and designs the Analytical Engine • 1890 – Herman Hollerith created the Hollerith Tabulating Machine for the 1890 Census

  11. Faster and Electronic • 1937 – Alan Turing invents the Turing machine • 1937-42 – John Atanasoff- Clifford Berry Create the ABC Machine • 1938 – Konrad Zuse developed the Z3 • 1944 - Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper build the Harvard Mark I Computer

  12. Military Dilemmas • I can’t see the enemy. • The earth really is round! • What is 50 MPH? • Hello? Is there anyone out there? Can anyone hear me. Photo courtesy of Hasbro

  13. Weapons of War • Increased range • Increased speed • Advanced flight • Industrial age • Increasingly complex engineering and manufacturing • Advanced communications Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

  14. Firing Tables • 1943-45 – ENIAC • Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer • Used to create firing tables • 10 feet tall • 1,000 square feet of floor space • Weighed 30 tons • 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 18,000 vacuum tubes

  15. ENIAC http://ftp.arl.mil/ftp/historic-computers/

  16. ENIAC http://ftp.arl.mil/ftp/historic-computers/

  17. ENIAC http://ftp.arl.mil/ftp/historic-computers/

  18. ENIAC http://ftp.arl.mil/ftp/historic-computers/

  19. ENIAC • While ENIAC did make calculating firing tables easier, ENIAC was not being used to it’s full potential. • A scientist named John Von Neumann wanted to calculate the maximum yield for the new bomb being created and asked to use ENIAC because it was faster than the Mark I. The calculated results were unbelievable.

  20. The Trinity Bomb Photo courtesy of The National Archives

  21. Wolfpacks http://www.lewrockwell.com

  22. Enigma • Cryptography • Enigma and Lorenz machines • Geheimschreiber and FISH Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

  23. Colossus • No longer just an adding machine • First electronic digital programmable computer • Limited programming • After the war it was ordered to be destroyed

  24. Future of Technology • After WW2 population became educated • The Military took a major initiative in technology development • Hollerith showed the business world money could be made with technology development • Tradition of eccentric hobbyists continue to this day- Apple II

  25. Would you have invested?

  26. Lab Assignment • Write a 2-3 page about Alan Turing

  27. Links • http://enigmaco.de/index-enigma.html • http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/enigmasim.htm • http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/java/AbacusApp.html • http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/n525es/virtual-n525-es.html • http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean.html

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