International Diffusion of Computer Technology, 1945-1955

Abstract

The article surveys the international diffusion of computer technology between 1945 and 1955. It lists early computers and their sponsoring organizations, compares scientific and commercial styles of development, and describes the mechanisms for technology transfer across national boundaries. Suggestions are offered for further research on computing and international technology transfer in the twentieth century.

Precursors of the IT Nation: Computer Use and Control in Swedish Society, 1955–1985

“…The computer systems developed in the encounter between the mostly multinational suppliers and the domestic users, often in long negotiations and with the participation of other actors such as consultants and academic experts. This perspective also raises the question of the extent to which the computer projects that we study reflect a generic, international model of computerization and to what extent they reflect Swedish particularities [23]. While this issue can only be fully explored in a comparative study, it nevertheless raises important questions about the relevance of Swedish particularities within each of the subprojects (e.g.…”

John von Neumann's Analysis of Gaussian Elimination and the Origins of Modern Numerical Analysis

“…Comparatively little has been written about the evolution and spread of concepts, for which see [7,51,52,131,223,256]. These articles about intellectual history and the books [10,132,324,334] are especially recommended for further reading.…”

“…Hartree was a "numerical analyst" in the original sense of computational scientist; for examples of this usage see [69, p. 104]. 22 The sharing of computer knowledge that is documented by Aspray [7], [11, pp. 187-188] was at cross-purposes with the national security interests that Pugh and Aspray [223] identify as the earliest customers for the machines.…”

“…After explaining Hotelling's speculation that Gaussian elimination could magnify rounding errors by the factor 4 n [143, pp. [6][7][8] (n is the matrix order), von Neumann and Goldstine announced their own result: 38 A recently discovered transcript of remarks by von Neumann [313] contains passages that appear in an unpublished manuscript [119] that is known to have been composed from lectures given during 1946-1947. We have worked out a rigorous theory. .…”

A perspective on the history of the Charles Babbage Institute and the Charles Babbage Foundation

“…In other projects, Aspray examined the transfer of information across national boundaries as a means to understand the emergence of an international computer industry. 8 In another approach, he and Donald Beaver examined advertising as a way to understand changes in the computer field. 9 Aspray had also studied the work of members of the Princeton University Department of Mathematics, as much of their work constituted the mathematical background of several important computing areas.…”