Fergie's Tech Blog

9 March 1900: Happy Birthday, Howard Aiken

Via Wikipedia.

Howard Hathaway Aiken (March 9, 1900, Hoboken, New Jersey–March 14, 1973, St. Louis, Missouri) was a pioneer in computing, being the primary engineer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I computer.

He studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and later obtained his Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University in 1939. During this time, he encountered differential equations that he could only solve numerically. He envisioned an electro-mechanical computing device that could do much of the tedious work for him. This computer was originally called the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) and later renamed Harvard Mark I. With help from Grace Hopper and funding from IBM, the machine was completed in 1944. In 1947, Aiken completed his work on the Harvard Mark II computer. He continued his work on the Mark III and the Harvard Mark IV. The Mark III used some electronic components and the Mark IV was all-electronic. The Mark III and Mark IV used magnetic drum memory and the Mark IV also had magnetic core memory.

Aiken was inspired by Charles Babbage's Difference Engine. He is supposed to have said (in 1947): "Only six electronic digital computers would be required to satisfy the computing needs of the entire United States." This remark is also attributed to Thomas J. Watson, but was probably said by neither. Grace Hopper popularized the story that the word "bug" (in the sense of a technical problem) was inspired by a moth crushed in a relay of the Mark I, but this is not true.

In 1970, Aiken received IEEE's Edison Medal 'For a meritorious career of pioneering contributions to the development and application of large-scale digital computers and important contributions to education in the digital computer field.'

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posted by Fergie @ 3/08/2006 10:01:00 PM