Milestone-Proposal:Harvard Mark 1 Computer, 1944 - 1959
Docket #:
This proposal has been submitted for review.
Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes
Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s fields of interest? (e.g. “the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences” – from the IEEE Constitution) Yes
Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes
Was it of at least regional importance? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes
Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes
Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an Electrical Engineering Milestone? Yes
Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:
1940s
Title of the proposed milestone:
Mark 1 Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), 1943 to 1945
Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:
DRAFT ONLY. Developed by Harvard faculty member Howard Aiken and IBM in the early 1940s, the massive machine was originally called the ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator). The Mark I is considered one of the first electro-mechanical computers ever created and represents a fundamental milestone in the history of modern computing. Software innovations designed by Grace Hooper were an important part of the machine.
In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?
Boston
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):
Unit: Boston Section
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:
Unit: Boston Section
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
Unit: Computer Society Chapter
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
Unit: Boston Section Milestones Committee
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):
IEEE Section: Boston Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Section chair name masked to public
IEEE Section: Boston Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Section chair name masked to public
Milestone proposer(s):
Proposer name: Proposer's name masked to public
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.
Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s):
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science, 1 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138
GPS later
Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.
Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need.
The milestone plaque will be located adjacent the remaining section of the Mark 1.
Are the original buildings extant?
Yes
Details of the plaque mounting:
Inside the lobby of Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford Street), Cambridge MA, in proximity to the historical display that features significant components from the original Mark I.
How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?
The Harvard school lobby is generally opened to the public.
Who is the present owner of the site(s)?
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science
A letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property:
A letter or email from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application:
What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I
The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), called the Mark I by Harvard University,[1] was an electro-mechanical computer. The electromechanical ASCC was devised by Howard H. Aiken, built at IBM and shipped to Harvard in February 1944. It began computations for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships in May and was officially presented to the university on August 7, 1944.
The Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Harvard Mark I) was the first operating machine that could execute long computations automatically. A project conceived by Harvard University's Dr. Howard Aiken, the Mark I was built by IBM engineers in Endicott, N.Y. A steel frame 51 feet (16 m) long and eight feet high held the calculator, which consisted of an interlocking panel of small gears, counters, switches and control circuits, all only a few inches in depth. The ASCC used 500 miles (800 km) of wire with three million connections, 3,500 multipole relays with 35,000 contacts, 2,225 counters, 1,464 tenpole switches and tiers of 72 adding machines, each with 23 significant numbers. It was the industry's largest electromechanical calculator.[2]
What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?
None
What features set this work apart from similar achievements?
The Mark 1 was unique.
References to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article.
IEEE GHN Biography of Howard Aiken,
http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Howard_Aiken
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I
PARTIAL LISTING ONLY AT THIS TIME
Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I
PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED LATER
