NACA High Speed Flight Station "Computer Room"

Before electronic computers became commercially available, the term "computer", in use from the mid 17th century, literally meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar A calculation is a deliberate process for transforming one or more inputs into one or more results with variable change Teams of people were frequently used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel.

Origins in astronomy

The approach was taken for astronomical and other complex calculations. Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Perhaps the first example of organized human computing was by the Frenchman Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713–1765), when he divided the computation to determine timing of the return of Halley's Comet with two colleagues, Joseph-Jérôme Le Lepart and Nicole-Reine Étable. Alexis Claude de Clairault (or Clairaut) ( May 3, 1713 – May 17, 1765) was a French Mathematician and Halley's Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley and also referred to as Comet Halley after Edmond Halley, is a Comet that can be seen every For some men being a computer was a temporary position until they moved on to greater advancements. For women the occupation was generally closed, but this changed in the late nineteenth century with Edward Charles Pickering. Edward Charles Pickering ( July 19 1846 – February 3 1919) was an American Astronomer and Physicist, brother His group was at times termed "Pickering's Harem. " Many of the women astronomers from this era are computers with possibly the best known being Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Henrietta Swan Leavitt ( July 4 1868 &ndash December 12 1921) was an American Astronomer, and the Deaf daughter of a Florence Cushman was one of the Harvard University computers from 1888 onward. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Among her best known works for him was A Catalogue of 16,300 Stars Observed with the 12-inch Meridian Photometer. She also worked with Annie Jump Cannon. Annie Jump Cannon ( December 11, 1863 &ndash April 13, 1941) was an American Astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental That said as a female computer she normally earned half of what a male counterpart would.

The Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar was employed as a "computer" for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India in 1840. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Radhanath Sikdar ( Bangla: রাধানাথ শিকদার (1813–1870 was a Bengali Indian Mathematician who calculated the height The Great Trigonometric Survey was a project of the Survey of India throughout most of the 19th century Year 1840 ( MDCCCXL) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year It was he who first identified and calculated the height of the world's highest mountain, later called Mount Everest. Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा meaning Head of the Sky) or Chomolungma, Qomolangma or Zhumulangma (in

Wartime computing and the invention of electronic computing

Human computers have played integral roles in the World War II war effort in the United States, and because of the depletion of the male labor force due to the draft, many computers during WWII were women, frequently with degrees in mathematics. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In Politics and Military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated Mobilization of society's resources&mdashboth industrial and The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Draft redirects here For other uses see Draft. Conscription in the United States has been employed several times usually during Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and In the Manhattan Project, human computers, working with a variety of mechanical aids, assisted numerical studies of the complex formulae related to nuclear fission. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may Because the six people responsible for setting up problems on the ENIAC, the premiere general-purpose electronic digital computer built at the University of Pennsylvania during WWII, were drafted from a corps of human computers, the world's first professional computer programmers were women, paving the way for careers in data processing as socially acceptable for women in an era of gender roles. ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first general-purpose electronic Computer. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioural norms associated particularly with Males or Females in a given social group or system ^[1]

Following World War II, the NACA used human computers in flight research to transcribe raw data from celluloid film and oscillograph paper and then, using slide rules and electric calculators, reduce it to standard engineering units. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The slide rule, also known as a slipstick, is a mechanical Analog computer. A calculator is device for performing mathematical calculations distinguished from a Computer by having a limited problem solving ability and an interface optimized for interactive

Contemporary usage

The term has also been applied to individuals with prodigious powers of mental arithmetic, also known as mental calculators. Mental calculation comprises mathematical Calculations using only the Human brain, with no help from a Calculator or Computer, or Pen Mental calculators are people with a prodigious ability in some area of Mental calculation, such as multiplying large numbers or factoring large numbers

Notes

References

• Grier, David Alan, The Human Computer and the Birth of the Information Age, Joseph Henry Lecture, Philosophical Society of Washington, May 11, 2001. The Philosophical Society of Washington is the oldest scientific society in Washington D
• Grier, David Alan, When Computers Were Human, Princeton University Press, 2005. The Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. ISBN 0-691-09157-9.

External links

• Early NACA human computers at work, photograph, October 1949.
• The Age of Female Computers, by David Skinner
• Sonoma University
• Wellesley