Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/07/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Herb, I may have mentioned this to you once before. Three of those ERA computers, upnamed ERA 1102, were delivered to Arnold Engineering Development Center, where I spent most of my career. Those were our data reduction computers when we brought the facilities on-line. Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA On 7/17/2015 4:27 PM, Herbert Kanner wrote: > I always wonder where these numbers come from. Examples? some early > mainframe computers: IBM?s first scientific computer: 701, IBM?s most > successful business data computer: 1401, major Control Data computer: > 3600. Well, I learned the story of one of these when doing essential > reading after becoming a docent in the Computer History Museum. > > During WWII, the U.S. Navy had a group of engineering officers developing > specialized hardware to aid in cryptography. When the war ended, the Navy > wanted to keep these guys, so it persuaded them to form a corporation > (Engineering Research Associates, or ERA for short, and bought them a > building in Minneapolis that used to be a glider factory. The Navy gave > these guys thirteen consecutive tasks, the thirteenth being to build a > general-purpose computer. > > The computer was so successful that ERA asked the Navy for permission to > sell this computer commercially after first removing a secret instruction > code from the public version. It was granted. I actually saw this computer > in operation around 1951 at George Washington University. It was sold as > the ERA 1101. > > What I learned at the Museum was that 1101 was very appropriate; as a > binary number, its value is thirteen. > > > Herbert Kanner > kanner at acm.org > 650-326-8204 > > Question authority and the authorities will question you. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >