![[VON NEUMANN, John.] BIGELOW, Julian Himely, et al. Interim progress report on the physical realization of an electronic computing instrument. 2 parts [the second titled Second interim progress report... ]. [Princeton:] Institute for Advanced Study, 1 January 1947-1 July 1947.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01484_0205_000(093222).jpg?w=1)
The Origins of Cyberspace collection described as lots 1-255 will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. If this price is not reached, the collection will be immediately offered as individual lots as described in the catalogue as lots 1-255.
[VON NEUMANN, John.] BIGELOW, Julian Himely, et al. Interim progress report on the physical realization of an electronic computing instrument. 2 parts [the second titled Second interim progress report... ]. [Princeton:] Institute for Advanced Study, 1 January 1947-1 July 1947.
Details
[VON NEUMANN, John.] BIGELOW, Julian Himely, et al. Interim progress report on the physical realization of an electronic computing instrument. 2 parts [the second titled Second interim progress report... ]. [Princeton:] Institute for Advanced Study, 1 January 1947-1 July 1947.
4o. Plates and text illustrations. Original buff printed wrappers; boxed. Provenance: Andrew D. Booth, with his signature on the front wrappers of both parts; boxed.
The first two in a series of progress reports describing the design and construction of the IAS computer, written by the IAS electronic computer project engineering staff (the last report in the series, entitled Final Progress Report on the Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument, was published in January 1954). The IAS computer owed its existence to the efforts of von Neumann, who persuaded the Institute for Advanced Study to accept his Electronic Computing Project--a major departure from the IAS's traditional orientation toward theoretical science. Von Neumann obtained funding for the project from RCA, the Army Ordnance Department, and the Navy Office of Research (the military support was supplanted later in the project by funding from the Atomic Energy Commission). The project was headed by von Neumann and Herman Goldstine, with Arthur Burks serving as a part-time consultant and Julian Bigelow as chief engineer. About twenty engineers worked on the IAS computer from the project's inception in March 1946 until the machine's public dedication in June 1952.
The IAS computer was planned as a parallel machine--a reversal of von Neumann's earlier opinion, expressed in the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC that any first machine should be serial in nature. The reason for this change was that RCA had convinced von Neumann that their Selectron digital electrostatic tube then in the planning stages--could serve as the basis for a reliable parallel memory system. The Selectron tube turned out to be quite difficult to manufacture, and the IAS engineers ended up using the Williams tube memory system instead.The IAS machine's hardware was completed in January 1951, and it began running programs in the middle of that year, beginning with a long series of calculations connected with the design of the hydrogen bomb that supposedly took sixty continuous days of computer time. The machine was officially dedicated on June 10, 1952, and remained in operation until 1960, working primarily on problems in numerical mathematics, numerical meteorology, and engineering.
The IAS computer served as the model for a number of computers built during the 1950s: the Aberdeen Proving Ground's ORDVAC; the University of Illinois's ILLIAC; the Rand Corporation's JOHNNIAC (named after von Neumann); Los Alamos's MANIAC; the Argonne National Laboratory's AVIDAC, ORACLE, and GEORGE machines; and several others constructed both in the United States and abroad. The logical basis for its design--known as the "von Neumann architecture"--became an industry standard. When OOC was written, OCLC cited two copies of the first report (Smithsonian and Brown University); RLIN cited copies of reports 1-4 at the University of Pennsylvania. From Gutenberg to the Internet 8.5. OOC 956.
4
The first two in a series of progress reports describing the design and construction of the IAS computer, written by the IAS electronic computer project engineering staff (the last report in the series, entitled Final Progress Report on the Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument, was published in January 1954). The IAS computer owed its existence to the efforts of von Neumann, who persuaded the Institute for Advanced Study to accept his Electronic Computing Project--a major departure from the IAS's traditional orientation toward theoretical science. Von Neumann obtained funding for the project from RCA, the Army Ordnance Department, and the Navy Office of Research (the military support was supplanted later in the project by funding from the Atomic Energy Commission). The project was headed by von Neumann and Herman Goldstine, with Arthur Burks serving as a part-time consultant and Julian Bigelow as chief engineer. About twenty engineers worked on the IAS computer from the project's inception in March 1946 until the machine's public dedication in June 1952.
The IAS computer was planned as a parallel machine--a reversal of von Neumann's earlier opinion, expressed in the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC that any first machine should be serial in nature. The reason for this change was that RCA had convinced von Neumann that their Selectron digital electrostatic tube then in the planning stages--could serve as the basis for a reliable parallel memory system. The Selectron tube turned out to be quite difficult to manufacture, and the IAS engineers ended up using the Williams tube memory system instead.The IAS machine's hardware was completed in January 1951, and it began running programs in the middle of that year, beginning with a long series of calculations connected with the design of the hydrogen bomb that supposedly took sixty continuous days of computer time. The machine was officially dedicated on June 10, 1952, and remained in operation until 1960, working primarily on problems in numerical mathematics, numerical meteorology, and engineering.
The IAS computer served as the model for a number of computers built during the 1950s: the Aberdeen Proving Ground's ORDVAC; the University of Illinois's ILLIAC; the Rand Corporation's JOHNNIAC (named after von Neumann); Los Alamos's MANIAC; the Argonne National Laboratory's AVIDAC, ORACLE, and GEORGE machines; and several others constructed both in the United States and abroad. The logical basis for its design--known as the "von Neumann architecture"--became an industry standard. When OOC was written, OCLC cited two copies of the first report (Smithsonian and Brown University); RLIN cited copies of reports 1-4 at the University of Pennsylvania. From Gutenberg to the Internet 8.5. OOC 956.
Further details
For further information about The Origins of Cyberspace Library and to view the reference catalogue, please visit https://www.historyofscience.com.