Talk:Harvard Mark II
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[edit] Additional detail on history
I am not very experienced with The Wikipedia world, so I am not sure how or where to go about adding information. The Harvard Mark II computer was built at the request and recommendation of Prof. C. (Charles) Clinton Bramble, a mathematician and a U. S. Navy officer (Bureau of Ordnance, U.S. Naval Proving Grounds, Dahlgren, Virginia), starting in 1944. Dr. Bramble very quickly recognized the value of the Mark I and was able to convince the Navy to finance a second machine, initially for computing ballistic "firing tables" that were used for artillery targetting. Dr. Bramble was a personal friend of my grandfather (Dr. Ralph E. Root, Professor Emeritus, U. S. Naval Postgraduate School, Annapolis, MD), and I heard the basic story of the Mark II first hand in the early 1960's. The Smithsonian Oral History collection has a transcript online of a 1973 interview with Howard Aiken (http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_aike73027.pdf) that is fascinating to read. Dr. Bramble and Dr. Root are also listed in the Genealogy of Mathematics that is maintained at the University of North Dakota. Dave Tuttle 21:39, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Bug is in the Smithsonian now
The log book with the bug may have been at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in 1988 (as well as other museums over the years), but it's at the National Museum of American History now, where it shall probably remain ... I removed the mention when I added a {{cite web}} reference that points to it. --72.75.126.37 (talk • contribs) 08:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
