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I was reading a book from the early 1900's, and it referenced using computers to calculate some complex algorithms. Threw me for a loop, and I finally realized

I was reading a book from the early 1900's, and it referenced using computers to calculate some complex algorithms. Threw me for a loop, and I finally realized the author was talking about people. Apparently it was a thing to send long computations to a room/building full of people and get the answer back.

bee_rider 2y ago
I wonder if the “programmers” could be much sloppier back then. “Find the eigenvalues? Which ones? You know, the ones we always want!”
- HPsquared 2y ago
  Prompt engineers, basically.
SideQuark 2y ago
The word "computer" to describe a person who does computations dates back into the 1600s, and is exactly where we got the current word. Up to around 1940, the vast majority of the world's computers were people, and there were legions of them across all areas of government and industry. There were around 250 total automated computers in 1955, around 20,000 in 1965, so I doubt human computers were outnumberd until the 1970s/1980s at best.
srean 2y ago
> I finally realized the author was talking about people. Apparently it was a thing to send long computations to a room/building full of people and get the answer back. s/people/women/g https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/history-human-computers-180972202/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/history-human-...
- gowld 2y ago
  s/women/people/g No need to promote sex-based divisiveness. From your own link: "So the French mathematician Alexis-Claude Clairaut decided to break the work up—by dividing the calculations among several people. In 1757, he sat down with two friends, the young astronomer Jérôme-Joseph Lalande and Nicole-Reine Lepaute, a clockmaker’s wife with a penchant for numbers. ... The age of human computers began." "By the 19th century, scientists and governments were beginning to collect reams of data that needed to be processed, particularly in astronomy, navigation and surveying. So they began breaking their calculations down into tiny basic math problems and hiring gangs of people to solve them. The work wasn’t always hard, though it required precision and an ability to work for long hours. Mostly, the computers were young men." "But by the late 19th century, some scientists realized that hiring women could reduce the cost of computation. The growth of education and middle-class prosperity had produced a generation of young women trained in math. So when the Harvard Observatory decided to process years of astronomic data it had gathered using its telescope, it assembled one all-female team of computers."
  - MonkeyClub 2y ago
    In this case, I read the substitution as increasing visibility rather than divisiveness, but I get your point: women are first-class people too.
    - srean 2y ago
      Right. I was conflicted about whether I should draw attention to this or not. In the end I felt there exists a lack of knowledge/appreciation of the contribution made by women computers.
- tliltocatl 2y ago
  My uneducated guess is that the notion of computers being mostly female comes from the WWII era.
Kabootit 2y ago
Are we talking about the book "Souls in the Great Machine" or real history?!
- gmiller123456 2y ago
  It was a book on positional astronomy, I don't remember the title.
adrian_b 2y ago
The first job of my father, after finishing his university studies, three quarters of century ago, when there were only a handful of electronic computers in the entire world, was as a "computer" at an astronomical observatory. With the revenue secured by that job, he decided that he can afford to marry my mother.

bee_rider 2y ago

I wonder if the “programmers” could be much sloppier back then. “Find the eigenvalues? Which ones? You know, the ones we always want!”

HPsquared 2y ago
Prompt engineers, basically.

SideQuark 2y ago

The word "computer" to describe a person who does computations dates back into the 1600s, and is exactly where we got the current word. Up to around 1940, the vast majority of the world's computers were people, and there were legions of them across all areas of government and industry. There were around 250 total automated computers in 1955, around 20,000 in 1965, so I doubt human computers were outnumberd until the 1970s/1980s at best.

srean 2y ago

> I finally realized the author was talking about people. Apparently it was a thing to send long computations to a room/building full of people and get the answer back. s/people/women/g https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/history-human-computers-180972202/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/history-human-...

gowld 2y ago
s/women/people/g No need to promote sex-based divisiveness. From your own link: "So the French mathematician Alexis-Claude Clairaut decided to break the work up—by dividing the calculations among several people. In 1757, he sat down with two friends, the young astronomer Jérôme-Joseph Lalande and Nicole-Reine Lepaute, a clockmaker’s wife with a penchant for numbers. ... The age of human computers began." "By the 19th century, scientists and governments were beginning to collect reams of data that needed to be processed, particularly in astronomy, navigation and surveying. So they began breaking their calculations down into tiny basic math problems and hiring gangs of people to solve them. The work wasn’t always hard, though it required precision and an ability to work for long hours. Mostly, the computers were young men." "But by the late 19th century, some scientists realized that hiring women could reduce the cost of computation. The growth of education and middle-class prosperity had produced a generation of young women trained in math. So when the Harvard Observatory decided to process years of astronomic data it had gathered using its telescope, it assembled one all-female team of computers."
- MonkeyClub 2y ago
  In this case, I read the substitution as increasing visibility rather than divisiveness, but I get your point: women are first-class people too.
  - srean 2y ago
    Right. I was conflicted about whether I should draw attention to this or not. In the end I felt there exists a lack of knowledge/appreciation of the contribution made by women computers.
tliltocatl 2y ago
My uneducated guess is that the notion of computers being mostly female comes from the WWII era.

Kabootit 2y ago

Are we talking about the book "Souls in the Great Machine" or real history?!

gmiller123456 2y ago
It was a book on positional astronomy, I don't remember the title.

adrian_b 2y ago

The first job of my father, after finishing his university studies, three quarters of century ago, when there were only a handful of electronic computers in the entire world, was as a "computer" at an astronomical observatory. With the revenue secured by that job, he decided that he can afford to marry my mother.