Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian pioneer in scientific data processing

Kistermann, F.W.

doi:10.1109/85.801534

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Conventionally, the dating of the first practical use of punch cards in meteorology is to Leo Wenzel Pollak's work in Czechia in 1927 (Coen 2018;Edwards 2010;Kistermann 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollak was inspired by the use of such systems within American businesses (Kistermann 1999) and he was keen to assess climatic periodicities through the collation of a wide range of meteorological data. He distributed hand punches to Czech weather station observers and promoted a unified international observation system that he envisaged might lead to a World Climatological Office (Edwards 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Pioneering Use of Early Computers in Weather and Mortality Research: Ellsworth Huntington’s Work with New York Life Insurance Companies in the 1920s

Randalls

2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Geographers are familiar with Ellsworth Huntington's influential, yet frequently derided claims about climatic determinism, eugenics and the progress of civilization. His work on weather and mortality in New York City, a study conducted under the auspices of the National Research Council and the extensive collaboration of New York based life insurance companies, offers a different insight into Huntington's approach. While the results of this 1920s research project had a limited impact on the field, the work that produced it represents one of the earliest examples of using computing technology in the atmospheric sciences.Drawing on archival research at Yale University and the National Academy of Sciences, the paper argues that not only can Huntington be considered pioneering in his use of early computers, the use of such machines constrained the research in important ways. The limited funding and processing capabilities of early computers, standardised punch card designs, necessary labor and staff time, and clerks' learned practices, all came to define the research project. This demonstrates that early computers did not simply enable more efficient numerical analysis of geographical problems, but rather they were part of socio-technical configurations that were co-emergent from the situated development of technologies within user communities.

show abstract

“…Conventionally, the dating of the first practical use of punch cards in meteorology is to Leo Wenzel Pollak's work in Czechia in 1927 (Coen 2018;Edwards 2010;Kistermann 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pioneering Use of Early Computers in Weather and Mortality Research: Ellsworth Huntington’s Work with New York Life Insurance Companies in the 1920s

Randalls

2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Foundation of the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft in its international context

Schweitzer

2023

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. This article describes the international seismological cooperation at the beginning of the last century and how this cooperation changed due to World War I (WWI). These changes were the direct reasons leading to the foundation of the Deutsche Seismologische Gesellschaft (DSG, German Seismological Society) in 1922, which changed its name to the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft (DGG, German Geophysical Society) 2 years later. The second part of the article shortly describes the further development of the relationship between German geophysicists and their international colleagues until the beginning of World War II (WWII).

show abstract

Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian pioneer in scientific data processing

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

A Pioneering Use of Early Computers in Weather and Mortality Research: Ellsworth Huntington’s Work with New York Life Insurance Companies in the 1920s

A Pioneering Use of Early Computers in Weather and Mortality Research: Ellsworth Huntington’s Work with New York Life Insurance Companies in the 1920s

Foundation of the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft in its international context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About