Desch-Mumma 1973 Interview

Index to topics in, and supplemental information about, the 1973 Smithsonian History of Computing Interview

Sections

Jan. 17th, tape 1, side 1 pages 1 through 43

Jan. 17th, tape 1, side 1, pages 44 through 86

Jan. 17th, tape 2, side 1-2, pages 87 through 166

Jan. 18th, tape 1, side 1 pages 1 through 43

Jan. 18th, tape 1, side 1, pages 44 through 86

Jan. 18th, tape 2, side 2, pages 87 through 166

Tread lightly: repairs to link in progress! Thanks–long overdue–Jan 2018

Topics

1938 “Scheme to use gas-filled thyratrons”

Bob Mumma, the 1939 accumulator

Radio controlled land mines for Signal Corps

Secret Communication device

work for the NDRC and MIT

Thyratron development

Thtyratron development and specs

University of Chicago counter

Binary to decimal conversion in the Chicago counter

Contract for Aberdeen Proving Ground

Bob Mumma talks about his binary multiplier

Binary/decimal conversion

Discussion of NCR and ENIAC

Views on Business vs. Scientific calculations

In the summer of 2015 I was contacted by an author interested in the stories of the Sugar Camp WAVES–one of my favorite topics. Now their story as well as that of the WACS at Arlington Hall is available and wonderfully successful.

“Code Girls is an extraordinary book by an extraordinary author. Liza Mundy’s portraits of World War II codebreakers are so skillfully and vividly drawn that I felt as if I were right there with them—mastering ciphers, outwitting the Japanese army, sinking ships, breaking hearts, and even accidentally insulting Eleanor Roosevelt. I am an evangelist for this book: You must read it.”
author of The Good Girls Revolt – Lynn Povich