Removing the Center from Computing: Biology's New Mode of Digital Knowledge Production

Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 156-173

  November, Joseph ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA   (United States)

Author keywords

Batch processing; Biology; Computer; Computing center; Digital; Graphical; LINC; NIH; Personal computer; Quantitative; Real time; Timesharing; Wesley Clark

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIOLOGY; HISTORY; HOSPITAL INFORMATION SYSTEM; HUMAN; MEDICAL INFORMATICS; MICROCOMPUTER; NATIONAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION; UNITED STATES;

BIOLOGY; CLINICAL LABORATORY INFORMATION SYSTEMS; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; MEDICAL INFORMATICS; MICROCOMPUTERS; NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (U.S.); UNITED STATES;

EID: 79958132645     PISSN: 01706233     EISSN: 15222365     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/bewi.201101512     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Elaboration of a lecture presented to the XLVII. Symposium der Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, "Skriptorium - Labor - Rechenzentrum: Räume zwischen Materialisierung und Idealisierung", at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn, Germany on 15 May2010
2. IBM 7090 Data Processing System, IBM Archive. Reproduced athttp://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP7090.html
3. Robert S. LedleyMedical Informatics: A Personal View of Sowing the Seeds, in Bruce I. Blum and Karen Duncan (eds.), A History of Medical Informatics: Proceedings of Association for Computing Machinery Conference on History of Medical Informatics, New York: ACM Press199031-41
4. Eric J. VettelThe Protean Nature of Stanford University's Biological Sciences 1946-1972, Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 352004)95-11396
5. James ShannonForeword, in Ralph W. Stacy and Bruce. D. Waxman (eds.), Computers in Biomedical Research, New York: Academic Press19656
6. For an extensive account of the midcentury growth of the NIH see: Buhm Soon Park, Health through Science: Biomedical Research Policy at the NIH, -1980 (Forthcoming1930
7. Frederick S. Brackett, Electronic Data Processing and Computing Equipment: The Meaning for NIH, memorandum to James Shannon, April 13, , NIH Electronic Data Processing Collection (RG 443 G2A 64 Box 90, File 53), National Archives1956
8. Harold DornPurchase Cost of IBM 650 Equipment, memorandum, March 29, , NIH Electronic Data Processing Collection (RG 443 G2A 64 Box 90, File 52), National Archives1957
9. Arnold W. PrattComputers in Biomedical Research, in DeWitt Stetten (ed.), NIH: An Account of Research in Its Laboratories and Clinics, New York: Academic Press1984456-480
10. Lee B. LustedSome Roots of Clinical Decision Making, in Bruce I. Blum and Karen Duncan (eds.), A History of Medical Informatics: Proceedings of Association for Computing Machinery Conference on History of Medical Informatics, New York: ACM Press1990383-425
11. Ledley, Medical Informatics: A Personal View of Sowing the Seeds, (see note 3). Ledley is today most widely remembered for developing ACTA, an exemplary full-body CT scanner
12. Robert S. LedleyDigital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science, Science 130 (, 1225-1234, on12251959
13. Robert S. LedleyNBR Research Accomplishments 1960-1970, Washington, D.C.: National Biomedical Research Foundation197315
14. Ledley, Digital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science, (see note 12)1230
15. Lee B. LustedQuantification in the Life Sciences, IRE Transactions on Bio-Medical Electronics 9 nr 119621-3
16. Lee Lusted in foreword to Robert S. Ledley, Report on The Use of Computers in Biology and Medicine, NAS-NRC document 26,238 (Washington, D.C.: National Research Council, Division of Medical Science19607-8
17. Lee B. LustedGuidelines for the National Institutes of Health Support of Biomedical Computing: Final Report to the Director, National Institutes of Health, by the Advisory Committee on Computers in Research, 31 March 1964, LINC Collection, MIT Museum, 9. By the end of , the direct expenditures of the ACCR exceeded 45 million1964
18. Martin H. Weik A Fourth Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems, Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1227 (Aberdeen, MD: BRL,1964), p. 162. Accessed via Ed Thelen, IBM 7040, available at:http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-i.html
19. Max A. WoodburyThe Impact of Biological Computing, in Kurt Enslein (ed.), Data Acquisition and Processing in Biology and Medicine: Proceedings of the 1963 Rochester Conference, New York: Pergamon Press19647-14
20. M. Mitchell WaldropThe Dream MachineJ.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal, New York: Viking2001148
21. The Communications Biophysics Group was so widely - albeit mistakenly - referred to as the Communications Biophysics Laboratory that the initials CBL stuck, even in official correspondence
22. John S. BarlowThe Early History of EEG Data-Processing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts General Hospital, International Journal of Psychophysiology 261997443-454450
23. John T. GilmoreRetrospectives II, The Early Years in Computer Graphics at MIT, Lincoln Lab, and Harvard, International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Boston, MA, July 31 - August 4, 1989. Reprinted in ACM SIGGRAPH ,89 Panel Proceedings, New York: ACM Press198939-73
24. Wesley ClarkThe LINC Was Early and Small, in Adele Goldberg (ed.), A History of Personal Workstations, New York: ACM Press1988345-400
25. Severo OrnsteinComputing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983, Bloomington, IN: 1st books Library2002,93
26. Wesley A. Clark and Charles E. MolnarA Description of the LINC, in Ralph W. Stacy and Bruce D. Waxman (eds.), Computers in Biomedical Research2
27. Wesley A. ClarkData Processing Aspects of Biomedical Computing Centers, Lincoln Laboratory Report C.13.3, 22 November, 1961, in author's possession
28. Ibid., Clark's understanding of computer use at MIT was based on MIT Semi Annual Report No. 8 (Jan1961
29. Clark, The LINC Was Early and Small, (see note 26), on354
30. Clark, Data Processing Aspects of Biomedical Computing Centers (see note 29), 4. Part of this quote is either a direct quote or a paraphrase of Walter Rosenblith
31. Clark, The LINC Was Early and Small (see note 26), on p. 370. At this point the ACCR also secured several hundred thousand dollars in NASA funding to support the LINC's development
32. Lusted, Guidelines for the National Institutes of Health Support of Biomedical Computing, (see note 18), on16
33. Clark and Molnar A Description of the LINC, (see note 28), on p. 38. The five goals are quoted in the order in which they originally appeared
34. Waldrop, The Dream Machine, (see note 22), on189
35. Clark, The LINC Was Early and Small (see note 26), on370
36. Clark and MolnarA Description of the LINC, (see note 28), on pp. 51-53. Clark initially intended for the LINC to cost $25,000 (the equivalent of about $150,000 in today's currency), typically the maximum amount of money a laboratory director could spend on instruments without obtaining special permission from university administrators. Once actually built, though, the LINC cost around $50,000.
37. The various early uses of the LINC are detailed in Proceedings of the Final LINC Evaluation Program Meeting, St. Louis: Computer Research Laboratory, Washington University1965
38. Douglas W. JonesPDP-8 Frequently Asked Questions, posted to alt.sys.pdp8 on 8 Juni 2001. (Reproduced at: /) Initially, the PDP-12 was called the LINC 8/I. DECtape (or Microtape) has its origin in the LINCtape systemhttp://www.faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp
39. Spear Microelectronics advertisement pamphlet, DEC Collection, Computer History Museum Archive. Mountain View, CA
40. Lusted, Guidelines for the National Institutes of Health Support of Biomedical Computing (see note 18), on p. 16. To the NIH's later consternation, the problem of transferring digital data from LINC tapes to magnetic tapes compatible with IBM computers was anything but trivial
41. Ornstein, Computing in the Middle Ages (see note 27)132
42. Joseph E. Hind and Chris D. GeislerFinal Report on LINC Computer Evaluation, Proceedings of the Final LINC Evaluation Program Meeting (St. Louis: Computer Research Laboratory, Washington University19658
43. Joshua Lederberg and Lee Hundley, Final Report: LINC Evaluation Program, Proceedings of the Final LINC Evaluation Program Meeting, Section 139
44. Waldrop, The Dream Machine (see note 22), on262
45. Alan C. KayHow to Predict the Future, 1 February D-9. (transcript in author's possession1985
46. Proteomics seems to be an even more fertile domain for number-crunching, with the IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer - ranked number one in the world when it was completed in 2005 - representing at last the fulfillment of Ledley's 1959 prediction that in the distant future "perhaps the greatest utilization of computers will be in biomedical applications" (Ledley, Digital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science (see note 12), on1230