61. See Grier, “The Rise and Fall of the Committee on Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation” (2001).
62. “Clara Froelich,” The Reporter.
63. Gertrude Blanch, interview with Michael Stern, approximately 1989, STERN.
64. SAC Cincinnati to Director, FBI, August 30, 1955, BLANCH FBI.
65. Director, FBI, to SAC Cincinnati, September 20, 1955, BLANCH FBI.
66. Gertrude Blanch, interview with Michael Stern, approximately 1989, STERN.
67. “Report on Mathematical Tables,” 1952, Mathematical Tables Committee File, MORSE.
68. Morse, In at the Beginning, p. 282.
69. Blanch to Morse, January 4, 1954, MORSE.
70. Arnold Lowan to Philip Morse, September 1, 1954; Philip Morse to Arnold Lowan, September 7, 1954, MORSE.
71. Philip Morse, Manuscript Report on Conference on Mathematical Tables, September 15–16, 1954, MORSE.
72. Ibid.
73. Jahnke and Emde, Tables of Functions.
74. Fletcher et al., An Index of Mathematical Tables, pp. 863–64.
75. National Bureau of Standards, Projects and Publications of the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories, July–December 1947, Project 47D2-4, p. 9.
76. “Clara Froelich,” The Reporter; Nancy Persily, interview with the author, June 4, 1998; Murray Pfefferman to John von Neumann, March 5, 1952, NEUMANN; Farebrother, A Memoir on the Life of Harold Thayer Davis; Croarken, Early Scientific Computing in Britain (1990), p. 23.
77. Abramowitz and Stegun, Handbook of Mathematical Functions, p. vi; “Dr. Abramowitz, Standards Unit Mathematician,” Washington Evening Star; Wrench, “Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs and Mathematical Tables.”
78. Quoted in Pugh, Building IBM, p. 275.
79. Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing, p. 145.
80. The book is uncopyrighted and has been reprinted in many forms and many languages. The two most popular editions are distributed by Dover Press and by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Between these two editions, the book has sold about 1.2 million copies.
81. Gertrude Blanch, interview by Henry Thatcher in San Diego, March 17, 1989, STERN.
82. Eisenman, History of Mathematical Statistics Research, p. 6; Sterling, “Blond Fashion Designer”; “Biography for Gertrude Blanch, Federal Woman’s Award,” LBJ.
83. McLendon, “She Corrects Computers.”
84. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, NARA, Papers of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 1, 1963, p. 330.
85. Federal Woman’s Award.
EPILOGUE:
FINAL PASSAGE
1. Yeomans, “Comet Halley—The Orbital Motion” (1977).
2. Donald Yeomans, personal communication with the author, July 2002.
3. Stern, From ENIAC to UNIVAC, p. 149.
4. Donald Yeomans, personal communication with the author.
5. Yeomans, “Comet Halley—The Orbital Motion”; Hughes, D. W., “The History of Halley’s Comet.”
6. Hughes, D. W., “The History of Halley’s Comet.”
7. Donald Yeomans, personal communication with the author.
8. MacRobert, “Halley in the Distance.”
Research Notes and Bibliography
ABBREVIATIONS
CBI Charles Babbage Institute
CORNELL Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl Kroch Library, Cornell University
GIRTON Girton College Archives
HUA Harvard University Archives
ISU Iowa State University Special Collections and University Archives
LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library
LOC Manuscript Collections, Library of Congress
MTAC Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NAS National Academy of Sciences Archives
RAS Royal Astronomical Society Library
PRIMARY SOURCES AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS
ALMANAC Records of the Nautical Almanac, Record Group 78.4, NARA
ALUM Alumnae Letters, Alumni Directories, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
AMP Records of the Applied Mathematics Panel, 1942–46, Record Group 227, NARA
ASTIN Papers of Allen Astin, LOC
ATANASOFF Papers of John Vincent Atanasoff, ISU
ATT Research Records of Bell Telephone Laboratories, ATT Archives
BAE Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Record Group 83, NARA
BENTLEY Records of the Mathematics Department, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
BERKELEY Papers of Edmund Berkeley, CBI
BLANCH FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation File: Gertrude Blanch, Freedom of Information Act Request
BLANCH NYU Records of Washington Square College, New York University Archives
BRIGGS General Correspondence, Lyman J. Briggs, 1931–62, Office Files, Records of National Bureau of Standards, Record Group 167, NARA
CBC Papers of Frances Cave-Browne-Cave, GIRTON
COAST-SURVEY Records of the Coast Survey, Record Group 23, NARA
DAHLGREN Papers of John Adolphus Dahlgren, LOC
ECKERT Papers of Wallace J. Eckert, CBI 9, CBI
ELECTRODATA Records of ElectroData Corporation, Burroughs Corporation Collection, CBI
FROELICH Papers of Clara Froelich, Barnard College Archives
GREENWICH Papers of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge University
HARVARD ELIOT Records of President Eliot, UA 1.5.150, HUA
HARVARD OBS Records of the Harvard Observatory, UA 630, HUA
HAW Papers of Henry Wallace, University of Iowa
IOWA MATH Records of the University of Iowa Mathematics Department, University of Iowa Archives
ISU-ADMIN Administrative Records of Iowa State University, ISU
IU BRYAN Papers of W. L. Bryan, Indiana University Archives
JEFFERSON Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC
LOWAN Papers of Arnold Lowan, Yeshiva University Archives
MANHATTAN Records of the Chief of Engineers, Manhattan Engineer District, Record Group 77, NARA
MARTIN Papers of Artemas Martin, Special Collections, American University Library
MAUCHLY Papers of John Mauchly, University of Pennsylvania
MICHIGAN Records of the Registrar, University of Michigan
MOORE Papers of Joshua Moore, LOC
MORSE Papers of Philip Morse, MIT Archives
MTP AMP Files of Certain Contractors, Applied Mathematics Panel Records, 1942–46, E-153, Records of the Office for Scientific Research and Development, Record Group 227, NARA
MTP ONR Records of the Office of Naval Research, box 77, Record Group 298, NARA
MTP WPA Administrative Records of the Math Tables Project of New York City, 1940–42, Project 365-97-3-11 and 765-97-3-10, Records of the WPA (FERA), Record Group 69, NARA
NBS Records of National Bureau of Standards, Record Group 167, NARA
NBS DIRECTOR Directors Correspondence, Records of the Director, Records of the National Bureau of Standards, Record Group 167, NARA
NEUMANN Papers of John von Neumann, LOC
NEWCOMB Papers of Simon Newcomb, LOC
NEYMAN Files relating to Jerzy Neyman, Applied Mathematics Panel, Records of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Record Group 227, E 153, NARA
NMAH Files of Computing Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
NORTHWEST Papers of Walter Dill Scott, Northwestern University Archives
NRC-MATH Files on the Committee on Applied Mathematics, Physical Science Division Records, National Research Council, NAS
NRC-MTAC Files on the Subcommittee on the Bibliography of Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation, Physical Science Division Records, National Research Council, NAS
NRC-PS Files of the Executive Council, Physical Science Division Records, National Research Council,
NAS
NWU DAVIS Papers of Harold T. Davis, Northwestern University Archives
OBSERVATORY-LOC Papers of the U.S. Naval Observatory, LOC
OBSERVATORY-NARA Records of the U.S. Naval Observatory, Record Group 78.4, NARA
ORDNANCE Records of the Department of Ordnance, Record Group 156, NARA
PEARSON Papers of Karl Pearson, University College Special Collections, University of London
PENNSYLVANIA Records of the Moore School, UPD 8, University of Pennsylvania Archives
SAB Files of the Scientific Advisory Board, National Research Council Records, NAS
SHAW Papers of George Bernard Shaw, British Library
SMITHSONIAN Interviews with Computer Pioneers, Record Group 196, Smithsonian Archives Center, National Museum of American History
STERN Papers of Gertrude Blanch, Stern Family Collection, CBI
STIBITZ PAPERS Papers of George Stibitz, Dartmouth College Library
TODD Papers of John Todd, California Institute of Technology Archives
TOLLEY Papers of Howard Tolley, 1923–28, Entry 125, BAE
UCLA ADMIN Records of the University Chancellor, UCLA, Record Series 359, University Archives, UCLA
UC PHYSICS Records of the University of Chicago Physics Department, University of Chicago Archives
UPTON PAPERS Papers of Winslow Upton, John Hay Library, Brown University
VEBLEN Papers of Oswald Veblen, LOC
WCE Records of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Special Collections, Harold Washington Library Center
WEAVER Papers of Warren Weaver, Rockefeller Foundation Archives
WILSON PAPERS Papers of Elizabeth Webb Wilson, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
INTERVIEWS
Bartky, Ian
Dyson, Freeman
Gaylin, Miriam
Goldstine, Herman H.
Hillman, Abraham
Issacson, Eugene
Lozier, Daniel
Olver, Frank
Persily, Nancy
Salzer, Herbert
Stegun, Irene
Stern, David and Debra
Todd, John
Yowell, Everett
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