The literal computers at the time were people. Computer: 1. One who computes; a calculator, reckoner; spec. a person employed to make calculations in an observ

The literal computers at the time were people. Computer: 1. One who computes; a calculator, reckoner; spec. a person employed to make calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc. [OED, 1923] Punch cards held tables of records, and the unit record equipment were nowhere close to the modern meaning of ‘computer’. (The human computers were probably Turing-complete, though.)