COWLES COMMISSION FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH
Organization founded in Colorado Springs (now at Yale) that maintained a computing staff to compile and analyze economic data
CROMMELIN, ANDREW CLAUDE DE LA CHEROIS (1865–1939)
English astronomer, computed perihelion of 1910 return of Halley’s comet, developed general means of solving differential equations
CROWELL, PHILLIP (1879–1949)
Astronomer who worked with Crommelin (see above)
DAVIS, CHARLES HENRY (1807–1877)
Officer, U.S. Navy, founder and first director of American Nautical Almanac
DAVIS, HAROLD THAYER (1892–1974)
American mathematician and creator of encyclopedia of mathematical functions, worked with Cowles Commission and Subcommittee on the Bibliography of Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation; no known relation to Charles Henry Davis
DE COLMAR, CHARLES XAVIER THOMAS (1785–1870)
Inventor of first commercially successful adding machine
DE PRONY, GASPARD CLAIR FRANÇOIS MARIE RICHE (1755–1839)
Leader of Bureau du Cadastre computing effort, created decimal trigonometry tables for French Metric Commission
DIFFERENCE ENGINE
Mechanical calculator that could interpolate functions, invented as special device by Charles Babbage but later adapted from commercial machines
DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER
Electromechanical machine that could solve differential equations (see below), found at MIT and Aberdeen Proving Ground
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
Equations that describe physical motion; they generally express relationships among the position of an object, the direction of its motion, and its speed; can be solved by a Differential Analyzer (see above)
DOOLITTLE, MYRRICK (1830–1913)
Computer for Coast Survey, developed method for solving least squares and simultaneous equation problems
ECKERT, J. PRESPER (1919–1995)
Designer of ENIAC at University of Pennsylvania; no known relation to W. J. Eckert, below.
ECKERT, WALLACE J. (1902–1971)
Leader of punched card computing group at Columbia University and director of U.S. Nautical Almanac.
ENIAC
Electronic computing machine developed at University of Pennsylvania, often identified as precursor of modern computer
FROELICH, CLARA (B. 1892)
Computer at Bell Telephone Laboratories
FRY, THORNTON (1892–1991)
Mathematician at Bell Telephone Laboratories
GALTON LABORATORY
Statistical laboratory of Karl Pearson at University College London, employed substantial computing staff
GLOVER, JAMES W. (1868–1941)
Actuary, mathematician, and educator of female computers at University of Michigan
GOLDSTINE, ADELE (1920–1964)
Senior Computer, University of Pennsylvania
GREENWICH OBSERVATORY
Royal Observatory of England, maintained a staff of human computers for almost 200 years
HALLEY, EDMUND (1656–1742)
English astronomer, friend of Isaac Newton, identified Halley’s comet as a returning comet, recognized that comet orbit calculations were difficult
HALLEY’S COMET (1758, 1835, 1910, 1986)
First major project for human computers because of the difficulties of tracking three or more bodies in space
IOWA STATE STATISTICAL LAB
Statistical laboratory run by George Snedecor that employed large computing staff, associated with Henry Wallace
LALANDE, JOSEPH-JÉRÔME LE FRANÇAIS DE (1732–1807)
French Astronomer Royal who worked on first calculation of Halley’s comet
LANCZOS, CORNELIUS (1893–1974)
Hungarian mathematician who worked with Mathematical Tables Project
LEAST SQUARES
Method of estimating orbits, statistical quantities, and other numbers by minimizing the squared distance between data (such as astronomical observations) and the final solution; important least squares technique developed by Myrrick Doolittle
LEPAUTE, NICOLE-REINE ÉTABLE DE LA BRIÈRE (1723–1788)
French scientist, worked on calculation of first return of Halley’s comet
LE VERRIER, URBAN JEAN JOSEPH (1723–1788)
Discoverer of Neptune
LORAN
Long-range navigation, a form of radio navigation developed by the United States during the Second World War
LOWAN, ARNOLD (1898–1962)
Director of Mathematical Tables Project
LUCASIAN PROFESSORSHIP
Mathematical professorship at Cambridge University in England, held, at different times, by Newton, Babbage, and Airy
MANHATTAN PROJECT
American atomic bomb effort in the Second World War
MASKELYNE, NEVIL (1732–1811)
British Astronomer Royal, founded Nautical Almanac
MATHEMATICAL TABLES AND OTHER AIDS TO COMPUTATION COMMITTEE/JOURNAL
National Research Committee chaired by R. C. Archibald; journal published by the same committee
MATHEMATICAL TABLES COMMITTEE
Not Mathematical Tables Project; see BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
MATHEMATICAL TABLES PROJECT
WPA computing organization in New York City
MITCHELL, MARIA (1818–1889)
Early American computer and astronomer
MITCHELL, WILLIAM (1791–1869)
Amateur scientist and father of Maria Mitchell (see above)
MORSE, PHILIP (1903–1985)
MIT engineer and supporter of Mathematical Tables Project
MOULTON, FOREST RAY (1872–1952)
A leader of First World War ballistics computer effort with Oswald Veblen
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
American government research institute, sponsor of Mathematical Tables Project
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Second World War committee for organizing scientific research, part of Office of Scientific Research and Development
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
American committee for coordinating research, founded in First World War
NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION
New Deal agency for employing high school and college youth, sponsored many small computing organizations
NAUTICAL ALMANAC, AMERICAN
American equivalent of British Nautical Almanac, founded in Cambridge, Mass., and moved to Washington, D.C.
NAUTICAL ALMANAC, BRITISH
Officially called Royal Nautical Almanac, prepared annual volume of navigation and astronomical tables
NAVAL OBSERVATORY
American National Observatory in Washington, D.C.
NEUMANN, JOHN VON (1903–1957)
American mathematician and key influence in development of modern electronic computer
NEW DEAL
Popular name for President Franklin Roosevelt’s economic relief programs
NEWCOMB, SIMON (1835–1909)
Director of American Nautical Almanac and, for his time, America’s most famous scientist
NEWTON, ISAAC (1642–1727)
An inventor of calculus and a friend of Edmund Halley
NEWTON, ISAAC (1837–1884)
Not to be confused with the above, first director of U.S. Department of Agriculture
NEYMAN, JERZY (1896–1981)
American statistician, worked on bombing problems in Second World War
PEARSON, KARL (1857–1934)
English statistician, founded computing organization and worked on bombing problems in First World War
PEIRCE, BENJAMIN (1809–1880)
American mathematician, friend of Charles Henry Davis, staff member of Nautical Almanac, director of Coast Survey
PICKERING, EDWARD (1846–1919)
Director, Harvard Observatory, hired large numbers of female
computers
PONTÉCOULANT, PHILIPPE GUSTAVE LE DOULCET, COMTE DE (1795–1874)
Computed 1835 and 1910 returns of Halley’s comet
PRINCIPIA
Isaac Newton’s book on planetary motion
RICHARDSON, LEWIS FRY (1881–1953)
English meteorologist, envisioned truly massive computing laobratory
ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
Philanthropic organization of Rockefeller family, supported mathematical research
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
English scientific society organized in 1821 as an alternative to Royal Society (see below); Babbage a member; supported computational work
ROYAL SOCIETY
England’s first scientific society
SAUNDERS, RHODA (DATES UNKNOWN)
Computer at Harvard Observatory
SCHEUTZ, EDVARD (1821–1888) AND GEORGE (1785–1873)
Inventors of a difference engine following Babbage’s ideas
SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)
Scottish philosopher and economist
SNEDECOR, GEORGE (1881–1974)
Iowa statistician, student of George Glover
STIBITZ, GEORGE (1904–1995)
Staff member of Bell Telephone Laboratories, inventor of machine to do complex arithmetic with telephone relays
TAUSSKY-TODD, OLGA (1906–1995)
English mathematician and member of National Bureau of Standards staff
THOMAS J. WATSON ASTRONOMICAL COMPUTING BUREAU
Early punched card computing bureau at Columbia University
TOLLEY, HOWARD (1889–1958)
Mathematician and computer at U.S. Department of Agriculture
TRACTS FOR COMPUTERS
Computing pamphlets published by Karl Pearson
TRIPOS
Mathematical exams at Cambridge University in England; top students are known as First Wrangler, Second Wrangler, and so on
VEBLEN, OSWALD (1880–1960)
American mathematician, nephew of economist Thorstein Veblen, leader of American computing effort in First World War, and member of Applied Mathematics Panel during Second World War
WALLACE, HENRY A. (1888–1965)
American secretary of agriculture, vice president, and amateur mathematician, associated with computing groups at Iowa State College and U.S. Department of Agriculture
WATSON, THOMAS J., SR. (1874–1956)
First president of IBM
WEAVER, WARREN (1898–1978)
University of Wisconsin mathematician, chair of Applied Mathematics Panel in Second World War, scientific program director for Rockefeller Foundation
WIENER, NORBERT (1894–1964)
MIT mathematician, member of First World War ballistics computing effort
WILKS, SAMUEL (1906–1964)
Statistician at Institute for Advanced Study, member of Applied Mathematics Panel
WILSON, ELIZABETH WEBB (1896–1980)
Ballistics computer, First World War
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) (1935–1943)
American economic relief program during Great Depression, organized and financed Mathematical Tables Project
YOWELL, EVERETT
Name of two computers, one for the U.S. Naval Observatory and the second with the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau
Notes
INTRODUCTION
A GRANDMOTHER’S SECRET LIFE
1. Record Books for Mathematics 49 (1918), Mathematics 53 (1918), Mathematics 4B (1920), BENTLEY.
2. Class Records, 1917–21, MICHIGAN; Annual Reports, BENTLEY.
3. Karpinsky, “James W. Glover.”
4. Glover, “Courses in Actuarial Mathematics.”
5. Letters for Baillo, deVries, Hall, and McDonald, Alumni Directories, 1937, 1953, ALUM.
6. Barlow, Barlow’s Tables, preface.
7. Babbage, Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, p. 191.
8. Croarken and Campbell-Kelly, Table Making from Sumer to Spreadsheets, preface; McLeish, Number, pp. 26, 65–66.
9. Galison and Hevly, Big Science.
10. See, for example, Galison and Hevly, Big Science.
11. Cardwell, Norton History of Technology, pp. 105, 106.
12. Ibid., p. 107.
CHAPTER ONE
THE FIRST ANTICIPATED RETURN
1. Newton, Principia, preface.
2. Cook, Edmund Halley, p. 209.
3. Quoted in ibid., p. 210.
4. Ibid., p. 211.
5. Ibid., p. 212.
6. Edmund Halley to Isaac Newton, September 28, 1695, in MacPike, Correspondence of Edmund Halley, p. 92.
7. Edmond Halley to Isaac Newton, October 7, 1695, ibid., pp. 92–93.
8. Isaac Newton to Edmund Halley, October 17, 1695, ibid., pp. 93–94.
9. Cook, Edmund Halley, p. 211.
10. Halley, Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis (1705).
11. Rigaud, Some Account of Halley’s Astronomiae Cometicae Synopsis, pp. 3–23; Broughton, “The First Predicted Return of Comet Halley.”
12. Halley, Astronomical Tables (1752); Broughton, “The First Predicted Return of Comet Halley,” has noted that if Halley used the old-style calendar, in which the year changes at the March equinox, then Halley’s prediction was very close to the actual date of March 13.
13. Halley, Astronomical Tables (1752).
14. Smith, A., “The Principles Which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries” (1757), p. 48.
15. Messier and Maty, “A Memoir, Containing the History of the Return of the Famous Comet of 1682. …”
16. Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
17. Barker to Bradley, in Philosophical Transactions (1683–1775).
18. Alder, The Measure of All Things (2002), p. 78.
19. She is sometimes identified in the literature as Hortense Lepaute.
20. Lalande, Astronomie (1792), pp. 676–81.
21. Alder, The Measure of All Things (2002), p. 78.
22. Lalande, Astronomie (1792), pp. 676–81.
23. Wilson, “Clairaut’s Calculation of Halley’s Comet” (1993).
24. Lalande, Astronomie (1792), pp. 676–81.
25. Ibid.
26. Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Section 3.
27. Ibid.
28. Wilson, “Appendix: Clairaut’s Calculation of the Comet’s Return” (1995).
29. Wilson, “Clairaut’s Calculation of Halley’s Comet” (1993).
30. Lalande, Astronomie (1792), pp. 676–81.
31. Wilson, “Clairaut’s Calculation of Halley’s Comet” (1993).
32. Yeomans, “Comet Halley—The Orbital Motion” (1977).
33. Quoted in Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, p. 283; Wilson, “Appendix: Clairaut’s Calculation of the Comet’s Return” (1995).
34. Wilson, “Appendix: Clairaut’s Calculation of the Comet’s Return” (1995).
35. Hobart and Schiffman, Information Ages, p. 166.
36. Jean d’Alembert quoted in Wilson (1993); Wilson (1995) gives a fairly complete account and assessment of the controversy.
37. Wilson, “Clairaut’s Calculation of Halley’s Comet” (1993).
38. Ibid.
39. Alexis Clairaut quoted in Wilson, “Appendix: Clairaut’s Calculation of the Comet’s Return” (1995).
40. Messier and Maty, “A Memoir, Containing the History of the Return of the Famous Comet of 1682. …”
41. Lalande, Astronomie (1792), pp. 676–81.
42. Ibid.
43. Stigler, “Stigler’s Law of Eponymy” (1999), p. 277.
CHAPTER TWO
THE CHILDREN OF ADAM SMITH
1. Smith, A., “The Principles Which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries” (1757).
2. Foley, Social Physics of Adam Smith, p. 34.
3. Smith, A., Wealth of Nations (1776), book 1, chapter 1.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Calendar of State Papers, Dome
stic, Car. II, 1675–76, p. 173, June 22, 1675, British Library, MS Birch 4393 f 104 r, v; Public Record Office, Kew, State Papers Domestic Entry Book 44, p. 10.
7. See Betts, Harrison, and Andrews, The Quest for Longitude.
8. Mayer, Tabulae Motuum Solis et Lunae Novae et Correctae (1770); Mayer, Theoria Lunae Juxta Systema Newtonianum (1767).
9. Leonhard Euler to Tobias Mayer, February 26, 1754, in Forbes (1971), Connaissance des Temps pour l’Année 1761, Paris, De l’Imprimerie Royale, 1761.
10. Sobel, Longitude.
11. Maskelyne, Nevil, “Memorial Presented to the Commissioners of the Longitude,” February 9, 1765, in Mayer, Tabulae Motuum Solis et Lunae Novae et Correctae (1770), pp. cxvii–cxx; see also Betts, Harrison (1993), and Andrews, The Quest for Longitude (1996).
12. Croarken, “Tabulating the Heavens.”
13. Ibid.
14. Maskelyne, The British Mariner’s Guide (1763), pp. iv–v.
15. Howse, Nevil Maskelyne, p. 60.
16. See Nevil Maskelyne to Joshua Moore, September 30, 1788, MOORE.
17. Maskelyne, “Preface,” Nautical Almanac for 1767.
18. Croarken, “Tabulating the Heavens.”
19. Maskelyne, “Preface,” Nautical Almanac for 1767.
20. Croarken, “Tabulating the Heavens.”
21. Howse, Nevil Maskelyne, p. 86; Croarken, “Tabulating the Heavens.”
22. Charles Talleyrand (1754–1838) quoted in Bradley, Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony, p. 16.
23. Porter, Trust in Numbers (1995), p. 24; Alder, “A Revolution to Measure” (2002), pp. 85–88.
24. Guillaume, Procès-Verbaux du Comité d’Instruction Publique (1897); Archibald, “Tables of Trigonometric Functions in Non-Sexagesimal Arguments” (1943).
25. Smith, C., “The Longest Run”; Bradley, Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony, pp. 5, 10.
26. Bradley, Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony, p. 10.
27. Smith, C., “The Longest Run.”
28. Bradley, Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony, p. 11.
29. Quoted ibid., p. 17.
30. Quoted ibid.
31. Quoted in Archibald, “Tables of Trigonometric Functions in Non-Sexagesimal Arguments,” (1943).
32. Quoted in Babbage, Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (1835), p. 193.
33. Smith, C., “The Longest Run”; see also Daston, “Enlightenment Calculations.”
34. Quoted in Babbage, Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, p. 193.
35. Grattan-Guinness, “Work for the Hairdressers.”
36. Quoted in Babbage, Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, p. 194.
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