According to Mary Croarken in her paper "Computing in Britain During World War II," by 1945, the Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory created by John Lennard-Jones utilized the latest computing devices to perform the equations. These devices included a model "differential analyser," and the Mallock machine, described as "an electrical simultaneous equation solver." According to Croarken, the Ministry was also interested in the new arrival of a differential analyzer accommodating eight integrators. This exotic computing device built by Metropolitan-Vickers in 1939 consisted of wheel and disk mechanisms that could provide descriptions and solutions for differential equations. Output resulted in a plotted graph.
At the same time, in the United States, analog computer pioneer Vannevar Bush took on a similar role to that of Lennard-Jones in the military effort after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt entrusted him with the bulk of wartime research into automatic control of firepower using machines and computing devices.
See also
References
- Croarken, Mary. "Computing in Britain During World War II," IEE History of Technology Summer Meeting 6 July 2002. [1]
- Bergbreiter, Sarah. "Moving from Practice to Theory: Automatic Control after World War II." Student paper: HIS 285S: History of Science, University of California, Berkley. [2]
- MacRae, Norman. John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More. N.Y.: Pantheon Books, 1992.