Technology for Modelling - Electrical Analogies, Engineering Practice, and the Development of Analogue Computing

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of Figures

Acronyms

Modelling, Calculation and Analogy: The Themes of Analogue Computing

Introduction: Analogue Computers in the History of Computing

Analogue Computers: Another Class of Computing Technology

Analogue Computer: A Challenge to Define

Analogue Computing as Modelling Technology

Structure of This Book

Part I: Modelling, Calculation and Analogy: The Themes of Analogue Computing

Part II: Analogue Computing in Use: A Selection of Contexts

A Multi-Stranded Chronology of Analogue Computing

Two Meanings of Analogue: The Tension Between Analogy and Continuity

Towards a Chronology of Analogue Computing

First Thematic Time-Line-Mechanising the Calculus: The Story of Continuous Computing Technology

1814-1850: Towards the Mechanical Integrator: The Invention and Development of the Planimeter

Hermann, Gonnella, Oppikofer: The Various Inventors of the Planimeter

1850-1876: Maxwell, Thomson and Kelvin: The Emergence of the Integrator as a Computing Component

1870-1900: The Age of the Continuous Calculating Machine

1885: H.S. Hele-Shaw and H.P. Babbage: An Early Analogue-Digital Debate

1880-1920: The Integrator Becomes an Embedded Component Initiating Associations Between Control and Calculation

1884: Determining the Engine Speed of a Royal Navy Warship: The Blythswood Speed Indicator, an Example of an Embedded Integrator

1911: Integrators in Fire Control: Arthur Hungerford Pollen and the Royal Navy

1915: Technology Transfer: Elmer Sperry, Hannibal Ford and Fire Control in the US Navy

1920-1946: The `Heyday' of Analogue Computing?

1931: Vannevar Bush and the Differential Analyser

Second Thematic Time-Line-From Analogy to Computation: the Development of Electrical Modelling

1845-1920: The Development of Analogy Methods

Tracing Field Lines, Field Analogies and Electrolytic Tanks

Miniature Power Networks and Resistor-Capacitor Models

1920-1946: Pre-digital Analogue Modelling

1924: The Origins of the MIT Network Analyser

1932: Le Laboratoire des Analogies Electriques: Electrolytic Tanks in France

1935: George Philbrick and the Polyphemus: Development of Electronic Modelling at Foxboro

1942: William A. Bruce and the Modelling of Oil Reservoirs

Third Thematic Time-Line-Analogue Computing and the Entwining of Calculation and Modelling

1940: The Emergence of Analogue Computing as a Technical Label and Class of Machine

1945-1960: The Development and Stabilisation of Computer Technology

The Development of Electronic Differential Analysers

Early Digital Computers as the Evolution of Analogue Architectures

Analogue Techniques on Digital Hardware: The Digital Differential Analyser

1950-1965: The Commercialisation of the Analogue Computer, and the Invention of Hybrid Computing

Conclusions

Modelling Technology and the History of Analogue Computing

Modelling: A Variety of Definitions and Associations

Modelling as a Meta-Narrative for the History of Computing

Support for Thinking of the Computer as a Modelling Medium

Theoretical Support for a Modelling Perspective

Historical Support for a Modelling Perspective

Analogue Computing as a Technology of Modelling

Conclusion

Origins of Analogue: Conceptual Association and Entanglement

The Establishment of `Forward Analogy': Historical Influences from Electrical Theory

Modelling with Electricity: Early Use of a Reverse Analogy

Clifford Nickle and Vannevar Bush: Modelling with the Reverse Analogy

Establishing a Modelling Medium Based on the Reverse Analogy: The Work of Nickle and Doherty

Stabilising the Field: Bush's Classification Schemes and Their Enrolling Function

Positive Association with Computing and Computational Rhetoric

Formation of an Analogue User Culture

George Philbrick and Lightning Empiricism: An Exemplar of Analogue Culture

Simulation Culture and the Transition to Digital

Digital Languages for Simulating Analogue Computing

Dis-enrollment of Analogue Computing and the Redefinition of Analogue Culture

Conclusion

Analogue Computing in Use: A Selection of Contexts

Analogue Computers in British Higher Education

Calculation, Modelling, or Control: Three Different Uses, Three Different Histories

Analogue Research at Manchester: Networks, Tanks, and Hybrid Computing

Analogue Research at Imperial College: Networks and Tanks as Engineering Tools

King's College London: Analogue Computing at `Ultra-High Speed'

Analogue Computing at Birmingham

Analogue Computing at the University of Bath: An Example of a Technical College

The Flowers Report and the Funding of Analogue Computing

Conclusion

Analogue Computers and Oil Reservoir Modelling

Production Management and the Application of Analogue Computing

Modelling Hydraulic Pressures with Electricity: William A. Bruce and the Carter Analyser

Incorporating Repetitive Operation: The Reservoir Analysers Developed by the Sun Oil Company

The Story of the BP Analogue Computer

Outsourcing Development to EMI Electronics

The BP Analyser in Use

BP and the Analogue-Digital Debate

Analogue-Digital Issues at the Local Level

Analogue-Digital Issues at the Corporate Level

Conclusion

Analogue-Digital Decisions in British Aeronautical Research

Analogue Computing for Aeronautics

Soap Film Models as Analogue Computers

The Electrolytic Tank as a Table-Top Wind Tunnel

Aerodynamic Calculations, British Aircraft Designers and the ARC Computation Panel

Tanks Versus Networks

Deciding Between Analogue and Digital: The Case of Flutter

Thirty Year Persistence: The Shortcomings of Digitalisation

Conclusion

The Analogue Dishpan: Physical Modelling Versus Numerical Calculation in Meteorology

Computation and the History of Meteorology

Non-digital Approaches to Meteorology

Richardson's Forecast Factory and His Suggested Analogue Alternative

Richardson: Mathematician, Experimentalist, Quaker

Richardson's Rotating Fluid Experiment and the Tension Between Experiment and Mathematics

Dave Fultz and the Experimental Tradition of Meteorology

Conclusion

Conclusion

Three Principal Conclusions

Multiple Perspectives of Use Informing Multiple Historical Trajectories

Classifications and Social Associations in the Construction and Deconstruction of Analogue Culture

Analogue-Digital Debates Were Application Based not Technologically Based

Challenges for Future Scholarship in the History of Analogue Computing

Concluding Remarks

References

Index