University of Michigan Willow Run Research Center Special Course on Digital Computers records
Scope and Content Note
Materials in the Special Course on Digital Computers series includes notes and course schedules which were intended as an informal summary of the special course. No attempt was made to give a detailed account of the individual lectures, though the lecture notes are often complete articles. Also included are laboratory exercises, answer sheets, explanations of special MIDAC programs, expositions of particular problems and machine techniques, and excerpts from texts and articles. The notes are arranged in six sections with an introduction:
- Introduction
- Section I Machine Characteristics and Internal Machine Structure
- Section II Machine Applications
- Section III Numerical Methods
- Section IV New Developments
- Section V Coding for MIDAC
- Section VI Machine Descriptions and Evaluations
The following extended notes are included in the collection (all were written for the course in 1953 unless otherwise specified):
- Anonymous. Information Storage [probably Bauer]
- Bauer, Walter F. The Monte Carlo Method
- Bauer, Walter F. Notes on Machine Characteristics
- Bauer, Walter F. Numerical Methods Seminar Notes
- Carr III, John W. Course Notes in —174, Methods in High-Speed Computation
- Dames, Ralph T. Numerical Methods Seminar Notes: Tchebycheff Polynomials
- Gill, S. A Process for the Step-By-Step Integration of Differential Equations in an Automatic Digital Computing Machine (1950)
- Graves, Glenn W. Matrix Methods - Solutions of Linear Equations
- Orr, L. W. The Use of Magnetic Materials in High-Speed Digital Computers
- Scott, Norman R. Notes on Internal Structure of Computers
Methods in High-Speed Computation includes course notes from a methods in high-speed computation course taught by John W. Carr III during the second semester, 1952/1953.
Dates
- Creation: 1952-1953
Creator
- University of Michigan. Willow Run Laboratories (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Access to materials:
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
Copyright:
The University of Michigan is presumed to hold copyright to records in this collection. Generally, researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
Historical Note
During the two week period from August 10 through August 21, 1953, the Willow Run Research Center of the Engineering Research Institute at the University of Michigan presented a special course on digital computers. The course was presented under the auspices of the Summer Session and Extension Service of the university and was under the direction of Dr. John W. Carr III. Operation of the course was under the direction of H. H. Goode, Director of the Willow Run Research Center.
The special course was presented for individuals interested in the operation and application of digital computers. It had available, as a laboratory tool, the Michigan Digital Automatic Computer (MIDAC). The course covered number systems, machine instruction methods, computational modes, subroutines, translational processes, programming, storage devices, input-output equipment, operation procedures, and reliability of equipment.
The course listed thirty participants and involved lectures from John W. Carr III, Walter F. Bauer, Leo Razgunas, Norman R. Scott, and other instructors, largely from Willow Run. While the MIDAC served as the focus of the course, other contemporary computer systems were discussed.
Extent
1 box (0.2 cubic feet)
Abstract
Contains notes and schedules that were intended as an informal summary of the special course. Includes laboratory exercises, answer sheets, explanations of special MIDAC programs, expositions of particular problems and machine techniques, excerpts from texts and articles, and notes from a course taught by John W. Carr III, "Methods in High-Speed Computation." Extended notes from the following instructors are included: Walter F. Bauer, Ralph T. Dames, Glenn W. Graves, Lyman W. Orr, and Norman R. Scott.
Arrangement of Collection
The materials in this collection are arranged into the following groups:
- Special Course on Digital Computers
- Methods in High-Speed Computation
Acquisition:
The records were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by the Association for Computing Machinery.
Subject
- Bauer, Walter F. (Person)
- Carr, John W. (Person)
- Dames, Ralph T., 1927- (Person)
- Graves, Glenn W. (Glenn William), 1929- (Person)
- Orr, L. W. (Lyman Walter), 1915- (Person)
- Scott, Norman R. (Norman Ross), 1918- (Person)
- Title
- University of Michigan Willow Run Research Center Special Course on Digital Computers Records, 1952-1953. Finding Aid.
- Author
- Prepared by Bruce H. Bruemmer, March 1991.
- Date
- 2004
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Collecting Area Details
Contact The Charles Babbage Institute Archives Collecting Area
Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 - 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55455
612-624-5050
cbi@umn.edu
