Early Scientific Computing in Britain
Published on 15. March 1990
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-19-853748-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book is a study of how scientific computation developed in British universities, the scientific civil service, and the armed services during the period 1900-1950. It describes the emergence of computing laboratories in Britain, along with the machines and personalities involved.
British computational work is examined from an organizational perspective and the concept of centralized computing power is discussed. Computing methods used up to the 1950s ranged from the use of mathematical tables, via slide rules and other mathematical instruments, to desk calculating machines, accounting machines, differential analysers, and early computers.
British computational work is examined from an organizational perspective and the concept of centralized computing power is discussed. Computing methods used up to the 1950s ranged from the use of mathematical tables, via slide rules and other mathematical instruments, to desk calculating machines, accounting machines, differential analysers, and early computers.
Reviews / Votes
`.. sheds a clear and illuminating light on early pioneers such as Comrie and Hartree and provides an essential link between their work and that of their more famous heirs from the electronic digital era.' NatureMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
8 pp halftones, tables
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
438 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-853748-9 (9780198537489)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Acknowledgements; List of plates; Introduction; Background: aids to computation; The mechanization of computation at the Nautical Almanac Office; The Nautical Almanac Office as a computing centre and the founding of the Scientific Computing Service; The influence of analogue machines in the 1930s: the Manchester and Cambridge differential analysers; The Second World War: the emergence of government computing centres; The creation of a national computing centre; The National Physical Laboratory Mathematics Division: a national computing centre; Post-war computing service centres; Computing machine developments at Cambridge and Manchester; Appendices; References