Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System: Difference between revisions

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The '''Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System''' (SPIRES) was originally developed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in 1969, from a design based on a 1967 information study of physicists at SLAC. The system was designed as a [[physics]] [[database management system]] (DBMS) to deal with high-energy-physics preprints<ref>[http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library/uspires/ The UNIX-SPIRES Collaboration at SLAC.]</ref>. Written in PL/1, SPIRES ran on an IBM mainframe.

In the early 1970's1970s, an evaluation of this system resulted in the decision to implement a new system for use by faculty, staff and students at [[Stanford University]]. SPIRES was renamed the '''Stanford Public Information Retrieval System'''. The new development took place under a National Science Foundation grant headed by Edwin B. Parker, principal investigator. SPIRES joined forces with the BALLOTS project to create a bibliographic citation retrieval system and quickly evolved into a generalized information retrieval and data base management system that could meet the needs of a large and diverse computing community.

SPIRES was rewritten in PL360, a block structured programming language designed explicitly for IBM/360-compatible hardware. The primary authors were: Thomas H. Martin, Dick Guertin and Bill Kiefer.&nbsp; John Schroeder was the manager of the SPIRES project during this early phase of development.