Stiby computer pioneer award
1995 1 30, the California Computer History Association published an obituary announcing that Dr. george stibitz, a retired professor at Dartmouth University (1904- 1995), died in his apartment in Hanover at the age of 90. The obituary not only said that he was the first person to realize computer remote control, but also was recognized as "the father of digital computers".
Almost at the same time, American scientist Stiby and German engineer Chuze independently developed a binary digital computer. Interestingly, Stiby's Model-K computer uses the same components as Chuze's Z-3 computer, both of which use telephone relays and are both developed in their own homes. The only difference is that Chuze chose the living room, and Stiby's invention was born on the kitchen table.
Stiby's computer is called Model-K(K (type K), in which "K" is a "kitchen table", which is named after his wife dorothea. 1937165438+1October, Stiby worked in the famous Bell Laboratory. Bell Laboratories was established in memory of Bell, the inventor of the telephone. At that time, the main goal was to improve the performance of telephone communication, and Stiby's task happened to be the magnetic circuit of telephone relay.
That night, Stiby came home from work after a hectic day, sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, and the relay was still ringing in his ear. He picked up the teacup and suddenly stopped at his mouth, and the inspiration came. "Relay-switch, switch-relay, isn't this the computer component I've been looking for for for a long time?"
A relay is actually a switch: a coil wound around an iron core and an armature mounted on a small bracket form an electromagnet that can be turned on and off. It has only two States: the coil attracts the armature after being electrified, and then the circuit is connected; Release the armature after the coil is de-energized, and then disconnect the circuit. If "ON" is regarded as "1" and "OFF" is regarded as "0", doesn't this switch represent a binary number?
Thought of here, Stiby couldn't sit still any longer. He excitedly returned to the laboratory, found several relays and other components, trotted back to the kitchen, laid these things on the dining table and drew a sketch of the circuit. The main structure with relay as the core was quickly assembled, and some "equipment" was still missing. So he dug out an empty tin can from under the table and cut off two pieces of tin as "input equipment"; Several flashlights and light bulbs were found to act as "output devices". When he fixed all the components on a three-splint, the computer assembly process was completed. No matter from which point of view, Stiby's "great invention" is like a small science and technology production completed by a middle school student.
It is such a model, but Stiby has used it to complete two-bit binary addition. At that time, he didn't realize that he had crossed an era-not only realized the leap from mechanical computer to electromagnetic computer, but also created a real digital computer! He recalled: "There was neither fireworks nor champagne." Only his wife, dorothea, came over and jokingly named the machine invented by her husband "kitchen table computer".
The next morning, Stiby introduced his "baby" to his colleagues in the laboratory, and even his good friends laughed to themselves. Isn't it funny that mathematicians in Bell Labs should come up with such a broken thing? There are a large number of manual calculators in the laboratory, and no one will need your machine.
Stiby was not discouraged. Fascinated by his invention, he spent several weeks improving his "K-computer". The performance of the machine is getting more and more perfect, but for a long time, no one paid attention to his machine until one day, the director of the mathematics research office asked him, "Can your K-computer help us solve the problem of complex number calculation?"
Stiby's major is mathematics. He was born in York, Pennsylvania from 65438 to 0904. He received a bachelor's degree from Dennison University, a master's degree from concord college and a doctorate from Cornell University. His major is mathematical physics. Of course, complex calculation is a piece of cake for a doctor of mathematics, but the problems faced by Bell Labs are a lot of complex calculation problems that need to be answered in AC circuit experiments. The laboratory employs a room full of female calculators, but the hand-cranked computers still can't keep up with the progress of the experiment from morning till night.
In the face of the director's inquiry, Stiby certainly nodded, and the project of formally developing digital computers took a new turn. Bell Laboratories provided him with assistants, including an electrical designer, S.Williams.1In September, 938, a digital computer development project named M- 1 was launched. A year later, on September 1939, Stiby handed over the satisfactory machine. 1940 65438+1On October 8th, M- 1 started to run, marking the birth of the first digital computer in America.
M- 1 electromagnetic digital computer only uses 440 relays and 10 knife switches, which completely solves the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of complex numbers, and it takes about 30 ~ 45 seconds to multiply a complex number. To calculate the same problem, it takes 15 minutes to crank the computer manually. At this time, Stiby thought of using this computer to do an unprecedented "exercise".
Before studying for a doctorate, Stiby worked in an electrical company and was sent to a suburban farm for radio test. I go to work every morning, and Ricky is freezing in the farm hut. He and his colleagues made a small remote control, which can automatically control the opening and closing of the fireplace baffle. In this way, when they arrive at the farm to work in the morning, they can remotely control the fireplace heating on the road. Since the fireplace can be remotely controlled, he certainly wants to try to remotely control M- 1 computer.
He first installed three teletypewriters in different rooms of his Manhattan office and connected them to M- 1 with telephone lines. The remote control experiment was very successful. Nine months later, the telephone line was connected to the fourth teletypewriter in New Hampshire, with a distance of 250 miles.
1940 In September, the American Mathematical Society held an academic conference at Dartmouth University. During the dinner, Stibis sent someone to publicly demonstrate how to remotely operate M- 1 computer to famous academic leaders including von Neumann and other mathematicians. Participants were surprised to see that researchers at Bell Laboratories skillfully operated new york's M- 1 in Hanover, where Dartmouth University is located, and the results were immediately output by typewriters in the venue through telephone lines. This successful demonstration has a particularly important position in the history of computer development, which marks the realization of computer remote control in human society.
From 1940 to 1949, Stiby subsequently presided over the development of M-2, M-3, M-4 and M-5 electromagnetic computers to meet the needs of the United States for computers in World War II and post-war reconstruction. M-5 is a giant covering an area of 200 square meters. Stiby installed nearly ten thousand relays for it, and * * * produced two. 1949, the last M-6 computer in Bell Laboratories was put into use, and the assembly of computers with relays became history.
During World War II, Stiby was seconded to the United States Scientific Research and Development Agency as a consultant. Since 1950s, he has been a consultant in Burlington and participated in the development of small computers. From 65438 to 0964, he worked as a professor and honorary professor in the Department of Physiology of Dartmouth University, developing various computer systems for biomedicine until his retirement from 65438 to 0983. During his lifetime, he obtained 38 technical patents in the computer field, not including the invention patents obtained in cooperation with others in Bell Laboratories.
In recognition of Stiby's achievements, 1997, the American Computer Museum set up a famous award in his name-"Stiby Award for Computer Pioneer", which was awarded to those pioneers of the computer age who are still alive in the world. The winners of 1997 are kilby, the father of integrated circuits, and Hoff, the father of microprocessors. The winner of 1998 is Douglas, the father of mice; The winners of 1999 are CERF and Kahn, the "fathers of the Internet"; Winners in 2000 included Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, and Tomlinson, the father of e-mail.
With the continuous innovation of many fathers, the name of George Stiby, the father of digital computers, shines again and again in the era of computer network.