[Acpc-l] HEUTE: INFORMATIKKOLLOQUIUM: 6.5.2002 17h00 J. Minker: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTERS TO THE 1950s

[Therese Schwarz]

Der Fachbereich Informatik und die Österreichische Computergesellschaft
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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTERS TO THE 1950s

Prof. Jack Minker
Department of Computer Science
and
Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland 20742

Montag, 6. Mai 2002, 17h c.t
Zemanek Hoersaal, Favoritenstrasse 11, Erdgeschoß, roter Bereich, 1040 Wien

ABSTRACT:
The start of the computer revolution is considered to have taken place
with the development of the ENIAC electronic digital computer in 1946,
56 years ago, at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the
University of Pennsylvania. I will trace the scientific developments
that led to the ENIAC and other computers developed at around the same
time.
In antiquity, Euclid developed the first algorithm and Aristotle
developed Aristotelian logic, fundamental to computers. Contributions
were made in the 1600s by Schickard, Pascal and Leibniz who developed
calculators. In the 1800s the Jacquard Loom for weaving patterns was
influential in the development of digital computers proposed and
detailed by Charles Babbage. Mathematical contributions were made by
George Boole, and the vacuum tube, to be used in the early electronic
digital computers was developed by John A. Fleming.
In the 1930s, Alan Turing developed the concept of an abstract
machine, the Turing Machine that is able to simulate any digital
computer. The first digital computers were started in the 1930s by
John Atanasoff and Cliff Berry at Iowa State University, by Howard
Aiken at Harvard University, by George Stibitz in conjunction with
Samuel B. Williams and Ernest G. Andrews at the Bell Telephone
Laboratories, and by Konrad Zuse in Germany. In England, as part of
their code breaking efforts, an electronic digital computer was
developed by Tommy Flowers, Sir Harry Hinsley and M.H.A. Newman. In
the 1940s the first large scale electronic digital computer, the ENIAC
was designed and developed by Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.
Work on the ENIAC led to the concept of the stored program computer,
in which the computer program and the data to be operated upon
co-existed in main memory. Computers influenced by the stored program
concept developed in the 1950s are discussed. Programming
developments fundamental to the enhancement of computers are also
discussed.
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BIOGRAPHY:
Jack Minker is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science in the
Department of Computer Science and the Institute for Advanced Computer
Studies at the University of Maryland. He received his B.A., cum
laude with honors in mathematics from Brooklyn College in 1949; his
M.S in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin in 1950: and his
Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959.
Professor Minker is a leading expert in the areas of nonmonotonic
reasoning, logic programming, artificial intelligence and deductive
databases. He has published over 180 refereed technical papers in
journals, books and conferences. He is an author, co- author, editor
or co-editor of 10 books devoted to deductive databases, logic
programming and logic-based artificial intelligence. Notable among
the books are LOGIC and DATA BASES, co-edited with H. Gallaire;
FOUNDATIONS of DEDUCTIVE DATABASES and LOGIC PROGRAMMING, editor;
FOUNDATIONS of DISJUNCTIVE LOGIC PROGRAMMING, with J. Lobo and
A. Rajasekar; and LOGIC-BASED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Dr. Minker is
considered to be a founder of the field of deductive databases and the
founder of the fields of disjunctive logic programming and disjunctive
deductive databases.
Dr. Minker serves on the Editorial Board of a number of journals such
as the JOURNAL of LOGIC PROGRAMMING, ANNALS of MATHEMATICS and
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, and was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the
THEORY and PRACTICE of LOGIC PROGRAMMING. At the University of
Maryland he became the first Chairman of the Department of Computer
Science (1974-1979). He also served as Chairman of the Advisory
Committee on Computing to the National Science Foundation (1979-1982).
In 1985, Professor Minker received the Association for Computing
Machinery's Outstanding Contribution Award for his work in the defense
of the human rights of computer professionals. He was elected a
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for
his work in artificial intelligence, database theory and his efforts
in behalf of human rights of scientists; Founding Fellow of the
American Association for Artificial Intelligence; Fellow of the
Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineering; Founding Fellow
of the Assoc- iation for Computing Machinery in 1993. He has served
the Association for Computing Machinery as Program Chair, National ACM
Conference,(1966-1967); National ACM Program Committee Chair
(1967-1968); Vice-Chair of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and
Human Rights (1980-1989); and as Advisor to COMPUTING REVIEWS. He is
Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Scientists. He received
the University of Maryland Presidential Medal for 1996, the highest
honor awarded by the University. Although retired, he continues to do
research and performs service in the scientific community and at the
University of Maryland.

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-- 
Schwarz Therese
Vienna University of Technology - Database & AI Group
A-1040 Vienna, Favoritenstr. 9-11/Stg.2/3. Stock/1842
Tel.: ++43(1)58801-18404, Fax: ++43(1)58801-18492
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