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Eckert, W. J. (Wallace John), 1902-1971.
W. J. Eckert papers, 1931-1975.
Correspondence, astronomy lecture notes, drafts of publications, research notes, and miscellaneous materials relating to Eckert's work in astronomy, celestial mechanics, and punched card systems.
The collection includes a letter to G. W. Baehne of IBM regarding the development of a machine for scientific calculations (1934), correspondence relating to the operation of the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau, photographs of Eckert, and drafts of publications. The drafts represented include "The Position of the Moon Computed Directly from Brown's Theory," Punched Card Methods in Scientific Computation (1940), and Faster, Faster (1955), a book about the IBM-Naval Ordnance Research Calculator. Correspondents include L. J. Comrie and Dirk Brouwer.
Eckert formed Columbia University's Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau in the 1930s and was director of the U.S. Naval Observatory. He worked on adapting IBM business tabulators and accounting devices for use in astronomy. After World War II he formed the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia, out of which came work relating to the scientific uses of punched card machines. Eckert and others helped develop the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator and the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator.
Baehne, G. W. (George Walter)
Brouwer, Dirk, 1902-
Comrie, L. J. (Leslie John), 1893-1950.
International Business Machines Corporation.
Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau, New York.
Astronomy -- Mathematics.
Calculators.
Celestial mechanics.
Punched card systems -- Astronomy.
Tabulating machines.
Photographs. aat
AIP-ICOS
University of Minnesota. Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing. University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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