Object name: Lightning Calculator

AccessionIndex: TCD-SCSS-V.20160929.002

Accession Date: 29-Sep-2016

Accession By: Prof.J.G.Byrne

Object name: Pioneers of Computing, a series of 60-minute sound recordings

Vintage: c.1976

Synopsis: London Science Museum, boxed set of 10 cassette tapes, interviews with: (1) D.W.Davies, (2) K.Zuse, (3) J.P.Eckert, (4) J.W.Forrester, (5) T.Kilburn, (6) J.M.M.Pinkerton, (7) F.C.Williams, (8) J.W.Mauchly, (9) A.D.Booth, (10) J.H.Wilkinson.

Description:

This is a set of the first ten of twenty recorded interviews of pioneers of computer science made by the London Science Museum [1] in 1976. The recordings are on standard consumer-grade cassette tapes in a black plasticised box.

The interviews are of:
(1) Donald Watts Davies (1924-2000), UK, (re-)inventor in 1965 of network packet switching.
(2) Konrad Zuse (1910-1995), Germany, inventor of Z1 computer (1938), Z2 (1940), Z3 (1941), and Z4 (1950).
(3) John Adam Presper Eckert (1919-1995), USA, co-inventor from 1943-45 of the ENIAC computer, and in 1951 of UNIVAC computers.
(4) Jay Wright Forrester (1918-), USA, inventor in 1953 of the dominant form of core memory, the first type of random access memory.
(5) Tom Kilburn (1921-2001), UK, co-inventor in 1946 of Williams–Kilburn store, and in 1948 of the first working stored-program computer (SSEM).
(6) John Maurice McClean Pinkerton (1919-1997), UK, the pivotal engineer for J.Lyons LEO computers introduced from 1951 based on Cambridge’s EDSAC.
(7) Frederic Calland Williams (1911-1977), UK, co-inventor in 1946 of Williams–Kilburn store, and in 1948 of the first working stored-program computer (SSEM).
(8) John William Mauchly (1907-1980), USA, co-inventor from 1943-45 of the ENIAC computer, and in 1951 of UNIVAC computers.
(9) Andrew Donald Booth (1918-2009), UK, who in 1947 pioneered magnetic drum memory for computers, and invented Booth's multiplication algorithm.
(10) James Hardy Wilkinson (1919-1986), UK, Turing’s assistant on ACE at NPL, led Pilot-ACE (1950), and a pioneer of numerical analysis using computers.
The full set of the London Science Museum interview series is also in the Stanford University Libraries [2]. The second ten recordings were of: (11) A.W.Burks, (12) S.Ulam, (13) H.D.Huskey, (14) R.Slutz, (15) M.H.A.Newman, (16) T.H.Flowers, (17) A.W.M.Coombs, (18) C.C.Hurd, (19) Grace Hooper, (20) A.Porter.
The content of these recordings is copyright London Science Museum, ©1976.

Accession Index	Object with Identification
TCD-SCSS-V.20160929.002	London Science Museum, ‘Pioneers of Computing, a series of 60-minute sound recordings’, boxed set of 10 cassette tapes, interviews with: (1) D.W.Davies, (2) K.Zuse, (3) J.P.Eckert, (4) J.W.Forrester, (5) T.Kilburn, (6) J.M.M.Pinkerton, (7) F.C.Williams, (8) J.W.Mauchly, (9) A.D.Booth, (10) J.H.Wilkinson, copyright London Science Museum, 1976.

References:

1. 
   London Science Museum, see:
   

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

Last browsed to on 29-Sep-2016.

2. 
   Stanford University Libraries, ‘Pioneers of Computing', London Science Museum sound recordings, 20 sound cassettes and a booklet, 1976, see:
   

https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4146833 /

Last browsed to on 29-Sep-2016.

Figure 1: Pioneers of Computing

Copyright London Science Museum

Figure 2: Pioneers of Computing

Copyright London Science Museum