LINC: Biology's revolutionary little computer

Endeavour

Volumn 28, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 125-131

  November, Joe ^a  

^a PRINCETON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOLOGY; COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE; ENGINEERING RESEARCH; NATURAL SCIENCES COMPUTING; RESEARCH LABORATORIES;

COMPUTERIZATION; LABORATORY INSTRUMENTATION COMPUTER (LINC); SMALL-SCALE COMPUTING;

COMPUTER SYSTEMS;

ART; ARTICLE; BIOLOGY; COMPUTER SIMULATION; COMPUTER SYSTEM; EDUCATION; HISTORY; HOSPITAL INFORMATION SYSTEM; HUMAN; INSTRUMENTATION; MICROCOMPUTER; UNITED STATES;

BIOLOGY; CLINICAL LABORATORY INFORMATION SYSTEMS; COMPUTER SIMULATION; COMPUTER SYSTEMS; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; MICROCOMPUTERS; PORTRAITS; UNITED STATES;

EID: 5444237798     PISSN: 01609327     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2004.07.006     Document Type: Review

References (28)

1. Digital Equipment Corporation advertisement for the LINC-8 in Scientific American 213 (5) May (1966), p. 20
2. Clark, W.A. and Molnar, C.E. (1965) A description of the LINC. In Computers in Biomedical Research (Vol. 2) (Stacy, R.W. and Waxman, B.D., eds), pp. 35-66, Academic Press
3. Rosenfeld, S.A. (1983) Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC): The genesis of a technological revolution. In the proceedings of the Seminar in Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the LINC Computer, p. 7 (http://history.cit. nih.gov/exhibits/linc/full-text.html)
4. In 1996, Alan C. Kay, establisher of the 'paradigm of personal computing', declared LINC the first PC. Kay, A.C. (1996) The early history of small talk. In History of Programming Languages (Vol. 2) (Bergin, T.J. and Gibsons R.G., eds), pp. 511-536, Addison-Wesley
5. For more on the early use of computers in x-ray crystallography, see de Chadarevian, S. (2002) Designs for Life: Molecular Biology after World War II, Cambridge University Press
6. Clark attributed computer scientists' lack of interest in developing real-time computers to curricula that ignored user interaction: 'Generation after generation of computer science students were taught that time was not important; only sequence and "functionality" were important. How fast things worked overall was important, but interaction with users in real time was not. So, we had generation after generation of machines in which interactive, real-time work was not possible.' Molnar, C.E. and Clark, W.A. (1990) Development of the LINC. In A History of Medical Informatics (Blum, B.I. and Duncan, K. eds), pp. 119-140, ACM Press (New York, NY, USA)
7. Bradley. T. (1957) National Academy of Sciences memorandum: On the application of computers to biology and medicine, 6 September
8. Ledley, R.S. (1960) Digital electronic computers in biomedical science. Science 130, 1230
9. Lusted, L.B. (1960) Foreword by the committee. In Report on Use of Computers in Biology and Medicine (Ledley, R.S. ed.), pp. vii-viii, NASNRC (Washington, DC, USA)
10. Robert G. Hoffman's letter to Science in 1960 provides an example of resistance to Ledley's initiative. Hoffman complained that computer represented a threat to the 'interpersonal relationship between the physician and patient.' Hoffman, R.G. (1960) Computers in medicine. Science 131, 472, 474, 564
11. Clark, W.A. (1988) The LINC was early and small. In A History of Personal Workstations (Goldberg, A. ed.), pp. 347-400, ACM Press (New York, NY, USA)
12. For a general description of Berkeley's Simon see Berkeley, E.C. (1949) Giant Brains, or Machines That Think, John Wiley & Sons
13. Young, J.S. (1998) Forbes Greatest Technology Stories: Inspiring Tales of the Entrepreneurs and Inventors who Revolutionized Modern Business, John Wiley & Sons, p. 88
14. Clark held similarly speculative conversations with MIT colleague Ken Olsen, who went on to found Digital Equipment Corporation. Clark, W.A. (1988) pp. 350-355
15. Clark, W.A. (1988) p. 354
16. Morse, P.M. and Teager, H.M. (1961) Real-time, time-shared computer: progress report. In Laboratory for Computer Science Technical Report, Lincoln Laboratory document Nonr-1841 (69), pp. 4-5
17. Clark, W.A. (1988) p. 362
18. Clark, W.A. and Molnar, C.E. (1965) p. 38
19. Ibid, p. 38
20. Rosenfeld notes that Clark was adamant that LINC's console should not be physically taller than its operators. He explains that Clark held the 'belief that a machine should not intimidate its owner' and that a computer should not be regarded as an 'awe-inspiring Golem'. Rosenfeld, S.A. (1983) Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC): The genesis of a technological revolution. In the proceedings of the Seminar in Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the LINC Computer, p. 3 (http://history.cit.nih.gov/exhibits/linc/full-text.html)
21. Clark, W.A. and Molnar, C.E. (1964) The LINC: a description of the Laboratory Instrument Computer. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 115, 653-668
22. Molnar, C.E. and Clark, W.A. (1990) Development of the LINC. In A History of Medical Informatics (Blum, B.I. and Duncan, K. eds), pp. 119-140, ACM Press (New York, NY, USA)
23. Wilkes, M.A. and Clark, W.A. (1969) Programming the LINC, Washington University Press
24. Clark, W.A. (1988) p. 369
25. Ornstein, S.M. (2002) Computing in the Middle ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983, 1st books Library (Bloomington, IN, USA), p. 114
26. NIH. (1963) Announcement. Science 139, 743
27. Weeks after the 'LINC camp' ended, the MIT Center collapsed, forcing the LINC team to again look for a new base. In 1964 most of the team resettled at Washington University (St Louis, MO, USA) where they continued to update the hardware and software of the LINC before branching out into other realms of biomedical computing. For further details see Cox, J.R. (1990) Recollections on the processing of biomedical signals. In A History of Medical Informatics (Blum, B.I. and Duncan, K. eds), pp. 197-221, ACM Press (New York, NY, USA)
28. Stefanov-Wagner, I.J. (1993), Lights out for the Last Line, MIT bulletin