Howard Hathaway Aiken There is one truth about the world when observed upon from any standpoint; regardless of sex, race, or nationality…and that is to change. Change is ever present, constant, and continuous. Amongst the changes in the universe, humanity has had to learn to adapt to changes in the environment in order to survive. Humanity has evolved from eras such as stone-age, to the Industrial revolution, and finally to the information revolution. When viewing the antiquity of computer technology, there are abundant historical figures that come to mind who have led to the age of the information revolution. One influential figure within this category is Howard Hathaway Aiken, who helped “in the development of a machine, the computer, that is changing how billions of people in the world live and work” <http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com>.
Howard Aiken was born on March 8th, 1900 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He moved to Indiana and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School. After graduating from high school, Howard attended the University of Wisconsin and received a Bachelors in Science (B.S.) in electrical engineering. Then, later joined Harvard and got his PhD and M.A. in Physics, and became an associate professor while there. Howard was inspired mostly by the century-old literatures of Charles Babbage that steered him to compose a paper advising that numerical exercises could be mechanized <http://www.computer.org>. Aiken is most frequently acknowledged for his invention of the Harvard Mark 1, which was not finalized until 1944, with the assistance of Grace Hopper. …show more content…
Her services made it possible to complete the Harvard Mark series while he was at Harvard. The Mark 1 was predominantly used by the U.S. Navy for militaristic resolutions. The Mark 1 weighed approximately thirty five tons, was fifty five feet long, and eight feet high. The machine also used subroutines for logarithms and had consisted of one-thousand four hundred rotary dial switches and five-hundred miles of wire. The machine used pre-punch paper tape, and could make calculations <http://inventors.about.com>. This computer, once programmed, could be used by people with little training and solved problems in which coded instructions were punched on paper tape. The Mark 1 primary usage was about that of U.S. Navy in gunnery, design and ballistics <http://www.britannica.com>. Some may question as to why Aiken did not use vacuum tubes instead of pre-punched paper tape? The answer would be: money. Howard knew the project would take a great deal of money to construct his machine; however, he was ready to use mechanical parts and relays when he applied for financial sustenance. Monroe did not support the idea, but IBM was willing to pay the bill. Aiken turned to Theodore Brown, a professor at Harvard, for help; which was a close associate of the president of IBM, Thomas J. Watson <http://www.computer.org>. After being recommended to Brown, Howard was then acclaimed to the senior engineer for IBM, Bryce, who was fond of his project idea. Therefore, Bryce then acclaimed that Aiken’s dream machine was to be constructed. Bryce’s opinion earned President Watson’s support for the Harvard calculator development. After gaining sustenance from IBM’s support Aiken then made a formal proposal titled Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine. The manuscript was twenty two typed pages and begins with a momentary history calculation, a dialogue of Babbage' writings, and had a momentary depiction of
Howard Aiken was born on March 8th, 1900 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He moved to Indiana and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School. After graduating from high school, Howard attended the University of Wisconsin and received a Bachelors in Science (B.S.) in electrical engineering. Then, later joined Harvard and got his PhD and M.A. in Physics, and became an associate professor while there. Howard was inspired mostly by the century-old literatures of Charles Babbage that steered him to compose a paper advising that numerical exercises could be mechanized <http://www.computer.org>. Aiken is most frequently acknowledged for his invention of the Harvard Mark 1, which was not finalized until 1944, with the assistance of Grace Hopper. …show more content…
Her services made it possible to complete the Harvard Mark series while he was at Harvard. The Mark 1 was predominantly used by the U.S. Navy for militaristic resolutions. The Mark 1 weighed approximately thirty five tons, was fifty five feet long, and eight feet high. The machine also used subroutines for logarithms and had consisted of one-thousand four hundred rotary dial switches and five-hundred miles of wire. The machine used pre-punch paper tape, and could make calculations <http://inventors.about.com>. This computer, once programmed, could be used by people with little training and solved problems in which coded instructions were punched on paper tape. The Mark 1 primary usage was about that of U.S. Navy in gunnery, design and ballistics <http://www.britannica.com>. Some may question as to why Aiken did not use vacuum tubes instead of pre-punched paper tape? The answer would be: money. Howard knew the project would take a great deal of money to construct his machine; however, he was ready to use mechanical parts and relays when he applied for financial sustenance. Monroe did not support the idea, but IBM was willing to pay the bill. Aiken turned to Theodore Brown, a professor at Harvard, for help; which was a close associate of the president of IBM, Thomas J. Watson <http://www.computer.org>. After being recommended to Brown, Howard was then acclaimed to the senior engineer for IBM, Bryce, who was fond of his project idea. Therefore, Bryce then acclaimed that Aiken’s dream machine was to be constructed. Bryce’s opinion earned President Watson’s support for the Harvard calculator development. After gaining sustenance from IBM’s support Aiken then made a formal proposal titled Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine. The manuscript was twenty two typed pages and begins with a momentary history calculation, a dialogue of Babbage' writings, and had a momentary depiction of