4 ms·

Leslie Groves wasn’t the origin of the Univac 1103. Rather it was the NSA (or its immediate predecessor, AFSA). The 1103 was the commercialized version of the A

Leslie Groves wasn’t the origin of the Univac 1103. Rather it was the NSA (or its immediate predecessor, AFSA). The 1103 was the commercialized version of the Atlas II built for the spooks.

EvanAnderson 5y ago
Thank you for that bit of trivia. This looks like a fun rabbit home to spend some time going down: https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-quarterly/digitalcomputer_industry.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/decla... https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-spectrum/early_history_nsa.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/decla... http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/flamm.pdf http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/flamm.pdf I'm off to figure out what instructions were removed from Atlas II when AFSA granted approval for it to be sold commercially. (I feel like I've read about this before and they were to-do with bit population but I can't rightly recall...)
- Animats 5y ago
  NSA: "General Canine then forcibly expressed his exasperation by exploding: 'Build me a thousand megacycle machine! I'll get the money!'" Finally, a cite for that line. Some good came out of that, but there was a long detour into cryogenic computing. They found a way to make gigahertz components, cryotrons. The trouble was, they couldn't make them small, or cheap, or integrated. So it was a dead end. What's come out of NSA over the years indicates that a full cyrotron computer was never built, but some "analytic tools", probably key-testers of some sort, were made. (The WWII Bombe and Colossus machines were key-testers, like Bitcoin miners, not general purpose computers.)
  - EvanAnderson 5y ago
    This is too cool. Thank you so much for that rabbit hole! I had no idea there was ever such a development program. Some simple searches on "cryotron computing" are returning some really promising-looking articles.
    - pinewurst 5y ago
      Don't forget https://www.amazon.com/Cryotron-Files-Computer-Scientist-Microchip/dp/1468315773 https://www.amazon.com/Cryotron-Files-Computer-Scientist-Mic...
      - EvanAnderson 5y ago
        The rabbit hole is deeper. That's a really compelling-lookin book. I'm going to get my hands on it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Animats 5y ago
Not the DoD buy side. The UNIVAC sell side. After the war, Groves became a VP at Remington Rand / Sperry Rand / Sperry Univac.

Leslie Groves wasn’t the origin of the Univac 1103. Rather it was the NSA (or its immediate predecessor, AFSA). The 1103 was the commercialized version of the Atlas II built for the spooks.

EvanAnderson 5y ago

Thank you for that bit of trivia. This looks like a fun rabbit home to spend some time going down: https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-quarterly/digitalcomputer_industry.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/decla... https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-spectrum/early_history_nsa.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/decla... http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/flamm.pdf http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/flamm.pdf I'm off to figure out what instructions were removed from Atlas II when AFSA granted approval for it to be sold commercially. (I feel like I've read about this before and they were to-do with bit population but I can't rightly recall...)

Animats 5y ago
NSA: "General Canine then forcibly expressed his exasperation by exploding: 'Build me a thousand megacycle machine! I'll get the money!'" Finally, a cite for that line. Some good came out of that, but there was a long detour into cryogenic computing. They found a way to make gigahertz components, cryotrons. The trouble was, they couldn't make them small, or cheap, or integrated. So it was a dead end. What's come out of NSA over the years indicates that a full cyrotron computer was never built, but some "analytic tools", probably key-testers of some sort, were made. (The WWII Bombe and Colossus machines were key-testers, like Bitcoin miners, not general purpose computers.)
- EvanAnderson 5y ago
  This is too cool. Thank you so much for that rabbit hole! I had no idea there was ever such a development program. Some simple searches on "cryotron computing" are returning some really promising-looking articles.
  - pinewurst 5y ago
    Don't forget https://www.amazon.com/Cryotron-Files-Computer-Scientist-Microchip/dp/1468315773 https://www.amazon.com/Cryotron-Files-Computer-Scientist-Mic...
    - EvanAnderson 5y ago
      The rabbit hole is deeper. That's a really compelling-lookin book. I'm going to get my hands on it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Animats 5y ago

Not the DoD buy side. The UNIVAC sell side. After the war, Groves became a VP at Remington Rand / Sperry Rand / Sperry Univac.