ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND

U.S. Army testing site for artillery, opened in 1918 with Princeton mathematician Oswald Veblen on staff

ABRAMOWITZ, MILTON (1913–1958)

Planning committee member of Mathematical Tables Project, editor of Handbook of Mathematical Functions

ADMIRALTY COMPUTING SERVICE

English computing organization of the Second World War led by John Todd

AIKEN, HOWARD (1900–1973)

Harvard graduate student and designer of MARK I mechanical computing device

AIRY, GEORGE BIDDLE (1801–1892)

English Astronomer Royal, reorganized Greenwich Observatory computers with principles of factory production

ALEMBERT, JEAN LE ROND D’ (1717–1783)

French mathematician and critic of calculations for first return of Halley’s comet

APPLIED MATHEMATICS PANEL

Division of Office of Scientific Research and Development concerned with mathematical research, led by Warren Weaver and headquartered in New York City

ARCHIBALD, RAYMOND CLAIRE (1875–1955)

Editor of the journal Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation

ATANASOFF, JOHN VINCENT (1903–1995)

Iowa State College physics professor, designed small computer to solve simultaneous equations problems

BABBAGE, CHARLES (1791–1871)

British mathematician and designer of computing machine called difference engine

BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES

American industrial research laboratory founded in 1925, supported computing groups and developed early electromechanical computer

BENNETT, A. A. (1888–1971)

Brown University mathematician, member of Aberdeen Proving Ground staff in First World War, chair of the Subcommittee on the Bibliography of Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation

BIOMETRICS LABORATORY; see GALTON LABORATORY

BLANCH, GERTRUDE (1896–1996)

Mathematical leader of Mathematical Tables Project

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, MATHEMATICAL TABLES COMMITTEE

Committee of scientists who computed tables of higher mathematical functions

BRUNSVIGA

Mechanical calculator that was a favorite of Karl Pearson and the British statistical community

BUREAU DU CADASTRE

French survey organization, led by Gaspard de Prony, that computed decimal trigonometry tables during the French Revolution

BURROUGHS, WILLIAM SEWARD (1855–1898)

Early successful American adding machine manufacturer; machines later adapted as difference engines

BUSH, VANNEVAR (1890–1974)

MIT engineer, directed American scientific effort during Second World War

CAVE-BROWNE-CAVE, FRANCES (1876–1965)

Mathematics professor at Girton College, Cambridge, U.K., did calculations for Karl Pearson

CLAIRAUT, ALEXIS-CLAUDE (1713–1765)

French mathematician, computed perihelion of Halley’s comet at first return in 1758

COAST (AND GEODETIC) SURVEY

First U.S. government scientific organization, maintained staff of computers to do survey and longitude calculations

COLUMBIA ASTRONOMICAL COMPUTING BUREAU; see THOMAS J. WATSON ASTRONOMICAL COMPUTING BUREAU

COMRIE, LESLIE JOHN (1893–1950)

Director of British Nautical Almanac and founder of Scientific Computing Service, key expert on methods of scientific computation

COWLES, ALFRED H. (1891–1984)

Industrialist and financier, founded Cowles Commission for Economic Research

COWLES COMMISSION FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Organization founded in Colorado Springs (now at Yale) that maintained a computing staff to compile and analyze economic data

CROMMELIN, ANDREW CLAUDE DE LA CHEROIS (1865–1939)

English astronomer, computed perihelion of 1910 return of Halley’s comet, developed general means of solving differential equations

CROWELL, PHILLIP (1879–1949)

Astronomer who worked with Crommelin (see above)

DAVIS, CHARLES HENRY (1807–1877)

Officer, U.S. Navy, founder and first director of American Nautical Almanac

DAVIS, HAROLD THAYER (1892–1974)

American mathematician and creator of encyclopedia of mathematical functions, worked with Cowles Commission and Subcommittee on the Bibliography of Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation; no known relation to Charles Henry Davis

DE COLMAR, CHARLES XAVIER THOMAS (1785–1870)

Inventor of first commercially successful adding machine

DE PRONY, GASPARD CLAIR FRANÇOIS MARIE RICHE (1755–1839)

Leader of Bureau du Cadastre computing effort, created decimal trigonometry tables for French Metric Commission

DIFFERENCE ENGINE

Mechanical calculator that could interpolate functions, invented as special device by Charles Babbage but later adapted from commercial machines

DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER

Electromechanical machine that could solve differential equations (see below), found at MIT and Aberdeen Proving Ground

DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Equations that describe physical motion; they generally express relationships among the position of an object, the direction of its motion, and its speed; can be solved by a Differential Analyzer (see above)

DOOLITTLE, MYRRICK (1830–1913)

Computer for Coast Survey, developed method for solving least squares and simultaneous equation problems

ECKERT, J. PRESPER (1919–1995)

Designer of ENIAC at University of Pennsylvania; no known relation to W. J. Eckert, below.

ECKERT, WALLACE J. (1902–1971)

Leader of punched card computing group at Columbia University and director of U.S. Nautical Almanac.

ENIAC

Electronic computing machine developed at University of Pennsylvania, often identified as precursor of modern computer

FROELICH, CLARA (B. 1892)

Computer at Bell Telephone Laboratories

FRY, THORNTON (1892–1991)

Mathematician at Bell Telephone Laboratories

GALTON LABORATORY

Statistical laboratory of Karl Pearson at University College London, employed substantial computing staff

GLOVER, JAMES W. (1868–1941)

Actuary, mathematician, and educator of female computers at University of Michigan

GOLDSTINE, ADELE (1920–1964)

Senior Computer, University of Pennsylvania

GREENWICH OBSERVATORY

Royal Observatory of England, maintained a staff of human computers for almost 200 years

HALLEY, EDMUND (1656–1742)

English astronomer, friend of Isaac Newton, identified Halley’s comet as a returning comet, recognized that comet orbit calculations were difficult

HALLEY’S COMET (1758, 1835, 1910, 1986)

First major project for human computers because of the difficulties of tracking three or more bodies in space

IOWA STATE STATISTICAL LAB

Statistical laboratory run by George Snedecor that employed large computing staff, associated with Henry Wallace

LALANDE, JOSEPH-JÉRÔME LE FRANÇAIS DE (1732–1807)

French Astronomer Royal who worked on first calculation of Halley’s comet

LANCZOS, CORNELIUS (1893–1974)

Hungarian mathematician who worked with Mathematical Tables Project

LEAST SQUARES

Method of estimating orbits, statistical quantities, and other numbers by minimizing the squared distance between data (such as astronomical observations) and the final solution; important least squares technique developed by Myrrick Doolittle

LEPAUTE, NICOLE-REINE ÉTABLE DE LA BRIÈRE (1723–1788)

French scientist, worked on calculation of first return of Halley’s comet

LE VERRIER, URBAN JEAN JOSEPH (1723–1788)

Discoverer of Neptune

LORAN

Long-range navigation, a form of radio navigation developed by the United States during the Second World War

LOWAN, ARNOLD (1898–1962)

Director of Mathematical Tables Project

LUCASIAN PROFESSORSHIP

Mathematical professorship at Cambridge University in England, held, at different times, by Newton, Babbage, and Airy

MANHATTAN PROJECT

American atomic bomb effort in the Second World War

MASKELYNE, NEVIL (1732–1811)

British Astronomer Royal, founded Nautical Almanac

MATHEMATICAL TABLES AND OTHER AIDS TO COMPUTATION COMMITTEE/JOURNAL

National Research Committee chaired by R. C. Archibald; journal published by the same committee

MATHEMATICAL TABLES COMMITTEE

Not Mathematical Tables Project; see BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

MATHEMATICAL TABLES PROJECT

WPA computing organization in New York City

MITCHELL, MARIA (1818–1889)

Early American computer and astronomer

MITCHELL, WILLIAM (1791–1869)

Amateur scientist and father of Maria Mitchell (see above)

MORSE, PHILIP (1903–1985)

MIT engineer and supporter of Mathematical Tables Project

MOULTON, FOREST RAY (1872–1952)

A leader of First World War ballistics computer effort with Oswald Veblen

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

American government research institute, sponsor of Mathematical Tables Project

NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE

Second World War committee for organizing scientific research, part of Office of Scientific Research and Development

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

American committee for coordinating research, founded in First World War

NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION

New Deal agency for employing high school and college youth, sponsored many small computing organizations

NAUTICAL ALMANAC, AMERICAN

American equivalent of British Nautical Almanac, founded in Cambridge, Mass., and moved to Washington, D.C.

NAUTICAL ALMANAC, BRITISH

Officially called Royal Nautical Almanac, prepared annual volume of navigation and astronomical tables

NAVAL OBSERVATORY

American National Observatory in Washington, D.C.

NEUMANN, JOHN VON (1903–1957)

American mathematician and key influence in development of modern electronic computer

NEW DEAL

Popular name for President Franklin Roosevelt’s economic relief programs

NEWCOMB, SIMON (1835–1909)

Director of American Nautical Almanac and, for his time, America’s most famous scientist

NEWTON, ISAAC (1642–1727)

An inventor of calculus and a friend of Edmund Halley

NEWTON, ISAAC (1837–1884)

Not to be confused with the above, first director of U.S. Department of Agriculture

NEYMAN, JERZY (1896–1981)

American statistician, worked on bombing problems in Second World War

PEARSON, KARL (1857–1934)

English statistician, founded computing organization and worked on bombing problems in First World War

PEIRCE, BENJAMIN (1809–1880)

American mathematician, friend of Charles Henry Davis, staff member of Nautical Almanac, director of Coast Survey

PICKERING, EDWARD (1846–1919)

Director, Harvard Observatory, hired large numbers of female computers

PONTÉCOULANT, PHILIPPE GUSTAVE LE DOULCET, COMTE DE (1795–1874)

Computed 1835 and 1910 returns of Halley’s comet

PRINCIPIA

Isaac Newton’s book on planetary motion

RICHARDSON, LEWIS FRY (1881–1953)

English meteorologist, envisioned truly massive computing laobratory

ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

Philanthropic organization of Rockefeller family, supported mathematical research

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

English scientific society organized in 1821 as an alternative to Royal Society (see below); Babbage a member; supported computational work

ROYAL SOCIETY

England’s first scientific society

SAUNDERS, RHODA (DATES UNKNOWN)

Computer at Harvard Observatory

SCHEUTZ, EDVARD (1821–1888) AND GEORGE (1785–1873)

Inventors of a difference engine following Babbage’s ideas

SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)

Scottish philosopher and economist

SNEDECOR, GEORGE (1881–1974)

Iowa statistician, student of George Glover

STIBITZ, GEORGE (1904–1995)

Staff member of Bell Telephone Laboratories, inventor of machine to do complex arithmetic with telephone relays

TAUSSKY-TODD, OLGA (1906–1995)

English mathematician and member of National Bureau of Standards staff

THOMAS J. WATSON ASTRONOMICAL COMPUTING BUREAU

Early punched card computing bureau at Columbia University

TOLLEY, HOWARD (1889–1958)

Mathematician and computer at U.S. Department of Agriculture

TRACTS FOR COMPUTERS

Computing pamphlets published by Karl Pearson

TRIPOS

Mathematical exams at Cambridge University in England; top students are known as First Wrangler, Second Wrangler, and so on

VEBLEN, OSWALD (1880–1960)

American mathematician, nephew of economist Thorstein Veblen, leader of American computing effort in First World War, and member of Applied Mathematics Panel during Second World War

WALLACE, HENRY A. (1888–1965)

American secretary of agriculture, vice president, and amateur mathematician, associated with computing groups at Iowa State College and U.S. Department of Agriculture

WATSON, THOMAS J., SR. (1874–1956)

First president of IBM

WEAVER, WARREN (1898–1978)

University of Wisconsin mathematician, chair of Applied Mathematics Panel in Second World War, scientific program director for Rockefeller Foundation

WIENER, NORBERT (1894–1964)

MIT mathematician, member of First World War ballistics computing effort

WILKS, SAMUEL (1906–1964)

Statistician at Institute for Advanced Study, member of Applied Mathematics Panel

WILSON, ELIZABETH WEBB (1896–1980)

Ballistics computer, First World War

WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) (1935–1943)

American economic relief program during Great Depression, organized and financed Mathematical Tables Project

YOWELL, EVERETT

Name of two computers, one for the U.S. Naval Observatory and the second with the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau