Wallace John Eckert | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1902-06-19)June 19, 1902 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | August 24, 1971(1971-08-24) (aged 69) |
| Known for | Scientific computing |
| Awards | James Craig Watson Medal(1966) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Columbia University United States Naval Observatory |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest William Brown |
Wallace John Eckert (June 19, 1902 – August 24, 1971) was an American astronomer, who directed the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau atColumbia University which evolved into the research division ofIBM.
Eckert was born inPittsburgh on June 19, 1902. Shortly thereafter, his parents John and Anna Margaret (née Heil) Eckert[1] moved toErie County, Pennsylvania, where they raised their four sons on a farm in Albion, PA. Wallace graduated from Albion High School in a class of six boys and eight girls. He graduated fromOberlin College in 1925, and earned an MA fromAmherst College in 1926.[2]
He started teaching atColumbia University in 1926, and earned his PhD fromYale in 1931 inastronomy under ProfessorErnest William Brown (1866–1938).[3]
He married Dorothy Woodworth Applegate in 1932. They raised three children, Alice,John andPenelope.
He was not related to another computer pioneer of the time,J. Presper Eckert (1919–1995).[2]
He attended the launch ofApollo 14 just before his death August 24, 1971, inNew Jersey.[4]
A lunarcrater, located withinMare Crisium, is named in his honor.[5]
Around 1933, Eckert proposed interconnectingpunched card tabulating machines fromIBM located in Columbia's Rutherford Laboratory to perform more than simple statistical calculations. Eckert arranged with IBM presidentThomas J. Watson for a donation of newly developed IBM 601 calculating punch, which could multiply instead of just adding and subtracting.[6] In 1937, the facility was named the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau. IBM support included customer service and hardware circuit modifications needed to tabulate numbers, create mathematical tables, add, subtract, multiply, reproduce, verify, create tables of differences, create tables of logarithms and perform Lagrangian interpolation, all to solve differential equations for astronomical applications. In January 1940, Eckert publishedPunched Card Methods in Scientific Computation, which solved the problem of predicting theorbits of theplanets, using the IBM electric tabulating machines, based on the punched card. This slim book is only 136 pages, including the index.
In 1940, Eckert became director of theUnited States Naval Observatory inWashington, D.C.World War II had been raging in Europe for many months. The US had not yet officially joined the effort to defeat Hitler. Nonetheless, the demand for navigation tables had risen. This demand helped inspire Eckert to automate the process of creating these tables, using punched card equipment. The 1941 almanac was the first to be produced using automated equipment, down to the finaltypesetting.[7][8]Martin Schwarzschild became directory of the Columbia laboratory while Eckert was at USNO.
ColumbiaPhysics professor Dana P. Mitchell served in theManhattan Project (developing the firstnuclear weapons) atLos Alamos National Laboratory. By 1943, the laborious simulation calculations used electromechanicalcalculators of that time operated by human "computers," mostly wives of the scientists. Mitchell suggested using IBM machines like his colleague Eckert.Nicholas Metropolis andRichard Feynman organized a punched-card solution, proving its effectiveness for physics research. John von Neumann and others were aware of this "computing by punched cards". That helped them develop wholly electronic electronic solutions which helped pave the way for modern computers.[9][10]
After the war Eckert moved back to Columbia. Watson had just had a falling out withHarvard University over aproject IBM had funded. IBM would instead focus their funding on Columbia, and Eckert's laboratory was named Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory. Eckert understood the significance of his laboratory, keenly aware of the advantage of scientific calculations performed without human interventions for long stretches of computation. A massive machine built to Eckert's specifications was built and installed behind glass at IBM's headquarters onMadison Avenue in January 1948. Known as theSelective Sequence Electronic Calculator, it was used as a calculating device with some success, but served even better as a recruiting tool.[11] Eckert published a description of the SSEC in November 1948.[12]
As an employee of IBM, Eckert directed one of the first industrial research laboratories in the country. In 1945, he hiredHerb Grosch[13] andLlewellyn Thomas[14] as the next two IBM research scientists, who both made significant contributions. WhenCuthbert Hurd became the next PhD to be hired by IBM in 1949, he was offered a position with Eckert, but instead founded the Applied Science Department, and later directed the development of IBM's first commercial stored program computer (theIBM 701) based on the demand demonstrated by applications such as those of Eckert.[15]
In this period he continued his innovative contributions to computational astronomy by implementing Brown'sLunar theory in his computer; developing the Improved Lunar Ephemeris; and performing the first numerical integration to compute an ephemeris for the outer planets.
In 1957, the Watson lab moved toYorktown Heights, New York (with a new building completed in 1961) where it is known as theThomas J. Watson Research Center.[16] Eckert won theJames Craig Watson Medal in 1966 from theUS National Academy of Sciences.[17]
Faster, Faster - A Simple Description of a Giant Electronic Calculator, and the Problems it Solves. Written withRebecca Jones, Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, Columbia University, International Business Machines. McGraw-Hill, 1955- An account for the layman. Says multiplying 1,000 pairs of ten digit numbers would take a week by hand, and could be done by an "electronic supercalculator" (of the day!) in one second.
