When Computers Were Human (64 page)

8
. Ibid.

9
. Ezekiel, “Reminiscences of Mordecai Ezekiel,” p. 13; “Hog Astronomy.” “The great progress which has been made in agricultural economics is doubtless due to the liberality of Congress toward the Department of Agriculture. Twenty years ago the total allowances for that department, including permanent appropriations were but little more than $5,000,000. For the current fiscal year, the total, including the road fund and the ‘permanent' items, is $139,000,000, which accounts in part for the great strides made in what might be termed hog astronomy” (“Hog Astronomy,” p. 51).

10
. Hoover, “Testimony before Senate Committee on Agriculture.”

11
. See Food Administration Graphical Records, LOC.

12
. Wallace,
Agricultural Prices
(1920), p. 30.

13
. Friedberger,
Shake-Out: Iowa Farm Families in the 1980s
, p. 20.

14
.
Sinclair,
The Jungle
.

15
. Culver and Hyde,
American Dreamer
, p. 16.

16
. Winters, “The Hoover-Wallace Controversy,” pp. 586–97.

17
. Gen. 41:29-30.

18
. Gen. 41:49, 57; Wallace, “Who Plays the Part of Joseph?” (1912).

19
. Culver and Hyde,
American Dreamer
, p. 20.

20
. Yule,
An Introduction to the Theory of Statistics
; Ezekiel, “Henry A. Wallace,” p. 791.

21
. Wallace,
Agricultural Prices
(1920), pp. 30, 34.

22
. Ibid. He later went back through the data from the nineteenth century to verify his ideas.

23
. Gen. 41:39-40.

24
. Gen. 41:40.

25
. Wallace,
Agricultural Prices
(1920), p. 34.

26
. Culver and Hyde,
American Dreamer
, p. 49.

27
. Moulton,
History of the Ballistics Branch
, p. 88.

28
. Wiener,
Ex-Prodigy
, pp. 255–56.

29
. De Weerd, “American Adoption of French Artillery 1917–1918,” pp. 104–16.

30
. Christman,
Sailors, Scientists and Rockets
, p. 27.

31
. Kennedy,
Over Here
, p. 251.

32
. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical Report 84, p. 2.

33
. Wiener,
Ex-Prodigy
, pp. 255, 257.

34
. Price, “American Mathematicians in World War I.”

35
. Dunham Jackson, undated note (probably 1940s), WILSON PAPERS.

36
. Evans, “Elizabeth W. Wilson Has Won Distinction”; Radcliffe College Alumnae Information Form, 1937, WILSON PAPERS.

37
. Orders for Major Oswald Veblen, USA, October 10 &16, 1918, Records of Ordnance Officers, 1915–19, vol. 6, ORDNANCE.

38
. Oswald Veblen Diary, November 9, 1918, VEBLEN.

39
. See Oswald Veblen Diaries, VEBLEN; Grier, “Dr. Veblen Gets a Uniform.”

40
. “Orders,” April 23, 1919, VEBLEN.

41
. Phil Schwartz to Oswald Veblen, August 10, 1919, VEBLEN.

42
. Karl Pearson, manuscript dated July 6, 1920, PEARSON.

43
. Croarken,
Early Scientific Computing in Britain
(1990), p. 24.

44
. Porter,
Karl Pearson
, p. 3.

45
. Pairman,
Tables of the Digamma
, p. 1.

46
. Ibid.

47
. Pearson, “On the Construction of Tables and on Interpolation.” parts 1 and 2; Rhodes, E., “On Smoothing”; Irwin, “On Quadrature and Cubature.”

48
. Henderson,
Bibliotheca Tabularum Mathematicarum
, p. 2.

49
. Pairman,
Tables of the Digamma
, pp. 1–2.

50
. Thompson,
Logarithmetica Britannica
, p. 1.

51
. Ibid., pp. 1–2.

52
. Martin,
Die Rechenmaschinen
.

53
. Thompson,
Logarithmetica Britannica
, p. 1.

54
. See Archibald, “Reviews” (1921); Archibald, “Reviews” (1924).

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

F
RUITS OF THE
C
ONFLICT

1
. Cortada,
Before the Computer
, p. 81.

2
. Tolley, “Interview.”

3
. Ibid.; Tolley and Ezekiel, “The Doolittle Method” (1927).

4
. Tolley, “Interview.”

5
. Ibid.

6
. Ibid.

7
. Ibid.

8
. Ibid.

9
. Tolley, Memo on a course on least squares, November 16, 1922, TOLLEY.

10
. Tolley and Ezekiel, “A Method of Handling Multiple Correlation Problems.”

11
. Brandt, “Uses of the Progressive Digit Method.”

12
. Tolley and Ezekiel, “A Method of Handling Multiple Correlation Problems.”

13
. “BAE News,” vol. 8, no. 18, BAE.

14
. Special Report of Howard Tolley, February 23, 1923, TOLLEY.

15
. Ibid.

16
. Cortada,
Before the Computer
, pp. 56–59.

17
. “BAE News,” vol. 8, no. 18, BAE.

18
. Employee List of Tabulating Bureau, December 3, 1926, BAE.

19
. “BAE News,” vol. 8, no. 18, BAE.

20
. Ezekiel, “Henry A. Wallace,” p. 791.

21
. Wallace, “What Is an Iowa Farm Worth?” (1924), pp. 1ff.

22
. Ezekiel, “Henry A. Wallace,” p. 791.

23
. See Iowa State University,
Annual Report
, 1950–51, “John Evvard [
sic
].”

24
. Henry Wallace to C. Cuthbert Hurd, February 21, 1965, NMAH.

25
. Cox and Homeyer, “Professional and Personal Glimpses of George W. Snedecor.”

26
. Wallace and Snedecor,
Correlation and Machine Calculation
, p. 1.

27
. Lush, “Early Statistics at Iowa State University,” p. 220.

28
. Culver and Hyde,
American Dreamer
, p. 147.

29
. “Interview with Mary Clem by Uta Merzbach,” June 27, 1969, pp. 1, 7–8, SMITHSONIAN.

30
. Report of the Mathematics Department for 1928, Vice President for Research File, 6/1/1, ISU; see also Snedecor, “Uses of Punched Card Equipment.”

31
. Annual Report of Mathematics Department for 1928, Vice President for Research File, 6/1/1, ISU.

32
. See Baehne,
Practical Applications of the Punched Card Method
, “Introduction and Table of Contents.”

33
. “Interview with Mary Clem by Uta Merzbach,” June 27, 1969, pp. 1, 7–8, SMITHSONAIN.

34
. “Mary Clem.”

35
. “Interview with Mary Clem by Uta Merzbach,” June 27, 1969, pp. 22, 32, SMITHSONIAN.

36
. MacDonald,
Henry Wallace
, p. 118.

37
. Henry Wallace to George Snedecor, May 23, 1931, HAW.

38
.
Reich,
The Making of American Industrial Research
, pp. 163, 176.

39
. “A Quarter Century of Transcontinental Telephone Service”; Mills, “The Line and the Laboratory.”

40
. Froelich, Clara, “Biographical Information Form,” Barnard College Archives.

41
. Price, “Award for Distinguished Service to Dr. Thornton Carl Fry.”

42
. Reich,
The Making of American Industrial Research
, p. 2.

43
. “Mathematical Research.”

44
. Millman,
A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System
, p. 352.

45
. “Mathematical Research.”

46
. Comrie, L. J., “Inverse Interpolation and Scientific Applications of the National Accounting Machine” (1936).

47
. Ibid.

48
. Croarken,
Early Scientific Computing in Britain
, p. 24.

49
. Ibid.

50
. L. J. Comrie to T. D. Scott, November 28, 1924, Walter Dill Scott Papers, box 13, folder 10 (College of Liberal Arts: Department of Astronomy) Series 3/51/1, Northwestern University Archives.

51
. Croarken,
Early Scientific Computing in Britain
, p. 25. For an interim period of six months, he served as an assistant in the almanac office.

52
. Comrie, L. J., “Inverse Interpolation and Scientific Applications of the National Accounting Machine” (1936).

53
. Ibid.

54
. L. J. Comrie to Wallace Eckert, January 25, 1940, ECKERT.

55
. Croarken and Campbell-Kelly, “Beautiful Numbers,” pp. 44–61.

56
. Ibid.

57
. Ibid.; Croarken, “Case 5,656.”

58
. Croarken and Campbell-Kelly, “Beautiful Numbers”; Croarken, “Case 5,656.”

59
. Croarken and Campbell-Kelly, “Beautiful Numbers.”

60
. Ibid.; Croarken, “Case 5,656”; L. J. Comrie to Karl Pearson, June 1, 1933, 665/9, PEARSON.

61
. Archibald, “BAASMTC Vol. 1.”

C
HAPTER
T
WELVE

T
HE
B
EST OF
B
AD
T
IMES

1
. Executive Order of 1918, “National Research Council,” in Cochrane,
The National Academy of Sciences
(1978), appendix.

2
. Douglas Miller to Frank Schlesinger, June 27, 1930, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

3
. F. K. Richtmyer to D. C. Miller, October 9, 1930, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

4
. Frank Schlesinger to F. K. Richtmyer, June 19, 1930, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

5
. F. K. Richtmyer to Frank Schlesinger, June 24, 1930, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

6
.
F. K. Richtmyer to D. C. Miller, October 9, 1933, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

7
. Bush, “The Differential Analyzer” (1931), n. 6.

8
. Ibid.

9
. D. C. Miller to F. K. Richtmyer, October 28, 1933, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

10
. Thornton Fry to F. K. Richtmyer, December 22, 1930, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

11
. Thornton Fry to F. K. Richtmyer, January 19, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

12
. Henry Reitz to F. K. Richtmyer, March 23, 1934, Correspondence 1934–36, NRC-MTAC.

13
. Thornton Fry to F. K. Richtmyer, January 19, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

14
. National Research Council,
International Critical Tables
(1926), p. ii.

15
. F. K. Richtmyer to Thornton Fry, January 21, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

16
. F. K. Richtmyer to Thornton Fry, May 5, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

17
. F. K. Richtmyer to Thornton Fry, June 4, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

18
. This image comes from book 35 of Pliny's
Natural History
. He would quote the proverb in Latin: “Ne sutor ultra crepidam.”

19
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
(1962), pp. 61–62.

20
. Ibid., p. 98.

21
. Ibid., pp. 174, 198.

22
. Ibid., pp. 203, 294.

23
. Ibid., p. 242.

24
. Bryan, “The Life of the Professor.”

25
. William Rawles to W. L. Bryan, January 18, 1927, IU BRYAN; Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, pp. 240–41, 271–72.

26
. Thornton Fry to F. K. Richtmyer, January 19, 1931, Correspondence 1930–33, NRC-MTAC.

27
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, pp. 271–72.

28
. Ibid.

29
. Henry Reitz to F. K. Richtmyer, March 23, 1934, Correspondence 1934–36, NRC-MTAC.

30
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, p. 273.

31
. Davis, H. T.,
Tables of the Higher Mathematical Functions
, pp. xi–xiii.

32
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, p. 297.

33
. Reiman,
The New Deal and American Youth
, p. 130.

34
. Undated memo from Ardis Monk, head of the computing office, UC PHYSICS.

35
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, pp. 319, 337.

36
. Fletcher et al.,
Index of Tables
, pp. 804–6.

37
. Comrie, L. J., “Tables of Higher Functions,”
Mathematical Gazette
, vol. 20, 1936, pp. 225–27.

38
.
Comrie, “Inverse Interpolation” (1936); Fletcher et al.,
Index of Tables
, pp. 804–6.

39
. Fletcher et al.,
Index of Tables
, pp. 804–6.

40
. “History of the Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad Company,”
http://www.almrailroad.com/history.htm
.

41
. Cowles Commission,
Report of Research Activities
, July 1, 1964–June 30, 1967.

42
. Christ,
History of the Cowles Commission
(1952), p. 7.

43
. Carl Christ suggests that Davis may have known of some method to compute regression equations with tabulators (ibid., p. 8).

44
. Davis, H. T.,
Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian
, pp. 299–300.

45
. Ibid., p. 302.