Herman Goldstine, ENIAC Developer, Dies at Age 90 111
CodeFixer writes "Herman Goldstine, who as a mathematician working at the Ballistic Research Lab convinced the US Army to fund the development of the ENIAC and EDVAC, has died at the age of 90. His obituary can be found at the New York Times and descriptions of his involvement in the development of the ENIAC can be found at the Army Research Laboratory."
Sad News (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Re:Sad News (Score:5, Informative)
It's an inside Slashdot joke, only funny if you're a Slashdot regular.
It plays off a venerable Slashdot troll (which troll I've been making a practice of using for actual deaths [slashdot.org]).
For an explanation of the troll, see here [wikipedia.org].
Re:Sad News (Score:1, Funny)
That is debatable.
This Just In! (Score:4, Funny)
;-)
Re:Sad News - He was also a good writer (Score:3, Informative)
Copy of Obituary (Score:5, Funny)
Hey - he was 90. We should all be so lucky. Life causes death.
Eniac's not all (Score:3, Funny)
Soul sucking registration removed (Score:3, Informative)
Jun. 28, 2004 12:00 AM
BRYN MAWR, Pa. - Herman Heine Goldstine, a mathematician who worked on the earliest electronic computers and helped the military develop the famous ENIAC, died June 16 at his home in Bryn Mawr. He was 90.
His death was announced by the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., which renamed a postdoctoral fellowship in the mathematical sciences in his honor. No cause of death was given.
Goldstine, a winner of the National Medal of Science, worked on the ENIAC, as the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was code named, when he was in the Army during World War II. He then became one of the chief scientists of the International Business Machine Corp. for 26 years.
In retirement, he followed his interest in putting science into the larger human context as executive officer of the American Philosophical Society from 1984 to 1997.
During World War II, Goldstine was an ordnance mathematician calculating artillery firing tables. When the War Department embarked on a top-secret program to develop ENIAC, the Army put him in charge of its part of the project.
The result had 18,000 vacuum tubes arrayed as number-crunching machinery, measuring 30 feet by 60 feet and weighing 30 tons. It took 30 months and 200,000 hours of work to contrive; the results were kept under wraps until after the war.
After that, Goldstine pursued the new computer science in academia and private industry. Born in Chicago, the lawyer's son studied mathematics at the University of Chicago, receiving a bachelor's degree (and was named to Phi Beta Kappa) in 1933, a master's degree in 1934 and a doctorate in 1936.
He taught at the University of Michigan but left when war broke out to become a ballistics officer in the Army. He advanced to lieutenant colonel and was awarded several medals, eventually being named to the Hall of Fame of the Army Ordnance Department in 1997.
In 1946, Goldstine joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a permanent member and assistant project director of its electronic computer project. His work contributed to the second-generation calculator built at the institute by John von Neumann. Von Neumann introduced it in 1952 as EDVAC, for Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer.
Goldstine joined IBM as manager, later director, of mathematical sciences for research in 1958. In 1965, he became director of scientific development for data processing. Part of his responsibilities was to act as liaison between the academic community and the company's research centers. After 1969, he was a scientific consultant to the research director and an IBM fellow.
How To Avoid NY Times Registration (Score:4, Informative)
If the article is relatively new, it will probably tell you "Sorry, no information is available for the URL" but will then offer you a link to the address you just typed in - just click on this link. The HTTP-Referer will then be google.com and you can read it without registration.
A few extra keystrokes, but gets around the registration process every time.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Soul sucking registration removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Soul sucking registration removed (Score:2)
Refusing to register with NY and posting various ways around that is just churlish and childish.
For all its troubles in the recent past the NY times is still a VERY impartial,interesting,original and mostly correct source of information,if only because its not owned by Murdoch.
C'mon
Re:Soul sucking registration removed (Score:1)
because it sucks up unnecessary time and effort to do so, and they ask for a lot of info.
Refusing to register with NY and posting various ways around that is just churlish and childish.
No, it's efficient and smart. Registering for NYT with f***you@f***off.com or chunky_lover52@aol.com is cromulent, churlish and childish. Avoiding the registration makes NYT's job of removing false addresses
Ironic - He died just like his machine (Score:5, Interesting)
Quotes about the ENIAC:
"Thus ended the life of the once glorious pioneer in the field of digital computation"
"It's death was a natural one--it had served its purpose."
As quoted from: The ENIAC Story [arl.mil]
Re:Netcraft has confirmed: old coders are DYING! (Score:2)
the point, which i tried to make in a humorous way, is that the original people that built the first computers were both geniuses and innovators, unlike most of today's computing population.
rip mr. goldstine (Score:3, Informative)
for example, he had software bugs just like we all do
except this guy's experience with bugs was literal:
when the eniac went bonkers, personnel had to run and check every single vaccum tube in the whole gigantic apparatus to find the "bug"...
moths would be attracted to the dull glow of the old vacuum tube transistors, and would inevitably fry themselves, and short the transistor, at some point in their dance around the bulbs
that is where the term "software bug" came from
and that is what herman goldstine's debugging experience was most probably like
bugs, and debuggers, have come a long way
but they show us how we owe a little appreciation to the pioneers like mr. goldstine
rip my man
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:3, Informative)
The term was in use before then, at the quote indicates. The "first actual case" would imply that "virtual" bugs had been found previously.
See here [tafkac.org] for more information.
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:1)
This was the first recorded actual bug as related to digital computing equipment, but there wasnt that much Digital computing equipment around before then.
It's "Hopper" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:2)
Term "bug" originated in or before 1878 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:3, Informative)
A moth found trapped between points at Relay #70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term "debugging a computer program".
In 1988, t
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:2, Informative)
The first computer "bug" was found by Lieutenant Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945.
Although this is accepted wisdom in various quarters, the use of the word "bug" as a defect predates Lt. Hopper by quite some time [astrian.net]. Specifically, as the above link points out, the term was used to indicate a glitch as far back as the 19th century, and Shakespeare himself used the the term to indicate a disruptive person in Henry VI, part III.
Er, no, actually (Score:2)
In fact, the things that bugs could affect were open relay contacts - in use surprisingly late on many systems, punch readers, tape and large floppy drives.
Re:rip mr. goldstine (Score:2)
I agree with the poster's sentiment, though. There are few of the pioneers of the field left.
Does that mean... (Score:1)
Possible obituary... (Score:5, Funny)
We, the Slashdot community... (Score:1, Insightful)
A sad day (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:A sad day (Score:2)
That's where the money is (: Hey, if war had something to do with developing the ENIAC that eventually led to the iPod and all our other cool computer gizmos, I'm cool with it.
Re:A sad day (Score:3, Insightful)
The entire tech industry was founded on the basis of military research.
wow (Score:1)
Re:wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Visionary guy (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Visionary guy (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Visionary guy (Score:2, Informative)
Including the legendary Nazi concentration camp punchcard systems
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3832141.stm
Re:Visionary guy (Score:1)
In fact, when they announced commercial-level computers a lot of investors thought they were morons to take such a risk, and dumped the stock like crazy. A bunch of lucky (or visionary.... naw, just lucky) a-holes got the cheap stock and made the Big Bucks(tm).
Re:Visionary guy (Score:2)
I haven't been an IBM customer in recent years, used to work in a big IBM mainframe shop, but I had to admire them for keeping a focus on the big picture rather than
How long? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How long? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How long? (Score:1)
Re:How long? (Score:3, Insightful)
That one is still being worked out. I don't think we have fully entered into the Golden Age of Global IT just yet; we're still hacking, the equivalent of James Watt tinkering with steam engine designs in 1769.
Once Watt figured out the optimal steam engine design, the next revolution
ENIAC on a chip and a java applet - enjoy! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:ENIAC on a chip and a java applet - enjoy! (Score:2)
To those who don't know what ENIAC and EDVAC are.. (Score:5, Informative)
ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first all-electronic computer designed to be Turing-complete, capable of being reprogrammed by rewiring to solve a full range of computing problems. It was preceded in 1941 by the fully tape-programmable but still mechanical Z3 designed by Konrad Zuse and by the all-electronic rewire to reprogram but not fully general purpose British Colossus computer. Both ENIAC and Colossus used thermionic valves, that is, vacuum tubes, while Z3 used mechanical relays. The requirement to rewire to reprogram ENIAC was removed in 1948.
EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was one of the earliest electronic computers. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal, and was the first stored program computer ever designed. This design became the standard architecture for most modern computers. The design for the EDVAC is therefore considered a major milestone in the history of computer evolution. While the EDVAC was the first stored program computer to be designed three other stored program computers were built before the EDVAC finally became operational. (the British Small-Scale Experimental Machine at Manchester University, the EDSAC at Cambridge University, and the Australian CSIR Mk I).
Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, that's true. I enjoyed listening to an audio version of ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer [amazon.com] Fasinating stuff. I seem to remember that there were a lot of personality clashes.
Re:Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:1)
With names like "Presper Eckert" and "Mauchly", you just ~know~ that these are the guys who worked through the night and had no social life.
- - -
Re:Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:4, Insightful)
At this point, you could say that about Linus Torvalds, too. After 8 years as a programmer, I'm more impressed by people who can manage programmers than by programmers.
Re:Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:2)
Re:Goldstine was project manager not designer (Score:4, Insightful)
Sudents from Iowa can only graduate in CS if they reject all truth in order to perpetuate a lie that the first computer was invented in thier home state.
A better write-up from the washington post (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a better write-up..
----
Computer Developer Herman Goldstine Dies
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 22, 2004; Page B07
Herman H. Goldstine, 90, a mathematician who played a key role in early development of the electronic digital computer during World War II, died June 16 at a retirement community in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He had Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Goldstine, who later worked at IBM, wrote "The Computer From Pascal to von Neumann" (1972), a highly readable account of the history of mathematics and the way it influenced the development of computer science.
During World War II, Dr. Goldstine worked for the Army's Ordnance Department, which had an interest in developing faster and more accurate artillery and bombing tables.
Assigned to the Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Md., he began persuading Army officials to invest money in a computer project underway at the University of Pennsylvania engineering school. Dr. Goldstine became the Army's liaison to the project, which was being led by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.
The result, presented Valentine's Day 1946, was ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.
It was the first electronic digital computer and an unwieldy device -- 18,000 vacuum tubes, filling a room 30 feet by 50 feet and using 150 kilowatts of power. "It was like fighting the Battle of the Bulge to keep it running daily," Dr. Goldstine later said.
The ENIAC could store 20 numbers of 10 digits each in its electronic memory and was a milestone in general-purpose computing. It impressed many at the time by performing rapid digital processing.
Besides his supervisory role, Dr. Goldstine was credited with some of the mathematical underpinnings of the ENIAC. He also said he had a major role in bringing Johnny von Neumann to the ENIAC project after seeing him one day in 1944 at the Aberdeen train station and persuading the math giant to visit Penn.
At the time, von Neumann was attending a scientific advisory committee meeting at the Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. He was intrigued by high-speed devices that would help with his work on the atom bomb at Los Alamos, N.M. Many of the difficult calculations for the first atom bomb were made with electronic calculators that were essentially office machines.
"Fortunately for me, von Neumann was a warm, friendly person who did his best to make people feel relaxed in his presence," Mr. Goldstine wrote in his 1972 book.
"The conversation soon turned to my work," he wrote. "When it became clear to von Neumann that I was concerned with the development of an electronic computer capable of 333 multiplications per second, the whole atmosphere of our conversation changed from one of relaxed good humor to one more like the oral examination of the doctor's degree in mathematics."
Herman Heine Goldstine was a Chicago native and received bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in mathematics from the University of Chicago.
Early in his career, he taught mathematics at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan.
In 1941, he married Adele Katz, who helped program the ENIAC and wrote an operating manual for it. She died in 1964.
Survivors include his wife, Ellen Watson Goldstine, whom he married in 1966, of Bryn Mawr; two children from his first marriage; and four grandchildren.
After his Army work, Dr. Goldstine worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., helping create a stored-program machine that became the model for the early IBM computers.
He worked at IBM from 1958 to 1984, serving as director of mathematical sciences in research, director of scientific development for the data processing division and consultant to the research director.
In retirement, he spent 13 years as execut
Idea from English? (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder if Goldstine heard about the British one and knew that we needed one too?
Re:Idea from English? (Score:1)
Re:Idea from English? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Idea from English? (Score:5, Funny)
Or, put another way, "NCR set U.S. up the bombe."
Re:Idea from English? (Score:2)
I wonder if Goldstine heard about the British one and knew that we needed one too?
In general, the Brit version was a good bit less powerful and dedicated to it's purpose - not so much of a "computer" as we'd think of them, more like a very complicated, electronic adding machine.
Not to take away from the accomplishment though - brilli
One of the first great underclockers (Score:2, Interesting)
Eniac (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Eniac (Score:2)
Agreed. That was an interesting book. However, I later discovered that John Atanasoff [angelfire.com] should more likely be considered the builder/inventor of the first computer, especially as we know them. The ENIAC [wikipedia.org] was a base ten computer, while the Atanasoff Berry Computer was base two.
Re:Eniac (Score:1)
Re:Eniac (Score:2)
Accoring to this site from the university [iastate.edu] where he did his work, Atanasoff is the inventor of the digital electronic computer:
Re:Eniac (Score:1)
Uh-oh... (Score:2, Funny)
Site Not Slashdotted :-( (Score:3, Funny)
"looks like the site is hosted on an ENIAC"
joke?
No?
*sulks*
ENIAC instruction set and architecture (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:ENIAC instruction set and architecture (Score:2, Informative)
My dad was there (Score:5, Informative)
ENIAC / Open Source (Score:2)
The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann (Score:3, Interesting)
Goldstine was also related in some way to the German 19th century poet Heinrich Heine, FWIW.
Slashdot- Not for Breaking News (Score:1, Offtopic)
Regardless, Goldstine was a great pioneer and his influence on early computing should always be remembered.
Re:The World's First Computer *NOT* (Score:1)
NPR had a special on the Wright Brothers on the 100th anniversary of their flight. As I recall, claims from Europe (France) to the first powered flight arose because the Wright brothers insisted on secrecy and did not fly "in public" until several years after their first flight. (I believe the conclusion was that the Wright brothers were first. They also tried to "own" flying in the US and filed a number of lawsuits against other US ai
You have the wrong idea of Goldstine (Score:1)
"Give credit where it's due" - Dante (Hicks)
Mauchly and Eckert are hardly reckognized for being the fathers of the first two electronic automatic
MathSciNet (Score:2, Interesting)
"Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument" by Arthur W. Burks, Herman H. Goldstine, and John von Neumann, 2d ed. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N. J., 1947.
"Planning and Coding of Problems for an Electronic Com
ENIAC developer? So what did he die from? (Score:2, Funny)
not to be mean, but... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:How many times do I need to ask? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Slashdotted (Score:1, Interesting)
what is this? [cowboyneal...nk.gnaa.us]