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When Computers Were Human
David Alan Grier
€ 61.00
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Description for When Computers Were Human
Paperback. Offers an introduction to the world of women and men who did the hard computational labor of science. This book tells us about the surveyors of the French Revolution, describes the calculating machines of Charles Babbage, and guides readers through the Great Depression to marvel at the giant computing room of the Works Progress Administration. Num Pages: 424 pages, 50 halftones. BIC Classification: PDR; PDX; TBX; UYZ. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 233 x 160 x 23. Weight in Grams: 622.
Before Palm Pilots and iPods, PCs and laptops, the term "computer" referred to the people who did scientific calculations by hand. These workers were neither calculating geniuses nor idiot savants but knowledgeable people who, in other circumstances, might have become scientists in their own right. When Computers Were Human represents the first in-depth account of this little-known, 200-year epoch in the history of science and technology. Beginning with the story of his own grandmother, who was trained as a human computer, David Alan Grier provides a poignant introduction to the wider world of women and men who did the hard ... Read more
Before Palm Pilots and iPods, PCs and laptops, the term "computer" referred to the people who did scientific calculations by hand. These workers were neither calculating geniuses nor idiot savants but knowledgeable people who, in other circumstances, might have become scientists in their own right. When Computers Were Human represents the first in-depth account of this little-known, 200-year epoch in the history of science and technology. Beginning with the story of his own grandmother, who was trained as a human computer, David Alan Grier provides a poignant introduction to the wider world of women and men who did the hard ... Read more
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2007
Publisher
Princeton University Press United States
Number of pages
424
Condition
New
Number of Pages
424
Place of Publication
New Jersey, United States
ISBN
9780691133829
SKU
V9780691133829
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier is Associate Professor in the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. His articles on the history of science have appeared in the "American Mathematical Monthly", "Chance", the "Christian Science Monitor", and the "Washington Post". He is Editor in Chief of the "IEEE Annals of the History of Computing". Long before he learned ... Read more
Reviews for When Computers Were Human
Winner of the 2006 Book Award in Computers/Internet, Independent Publisher Book Awards "David Alan Grier's recovery of the wonderfully rich story of human computers ... ask[s] why human computers were made to disappear in the first place... It is notoriously difficult to recover details of the lives of ordinary people... But Grier triumphantly achieves his aim when discussing the twentieth-century ... Read more