STS.035 THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING

Spring 2004

Lecturer Slava Gerovitch Meeting time: W 2-5

Office E56-264 Room: 1-277

Phone 452-4506

E-mail <slava@mit.edu>

This course will focus on one particular aspect of the history of computing: the use of the computer as a scientific instrument. The electronic digital computer was invented to do science, and its applications range from physics to mathematics to biology to the humanities. What has been the impact of computing on the practice of science? Is the computer different from other scientific instruments? Is computer simulation a valid form of scientific experiment? Can computer models be viewed as surrogate theories? How does the computer change the way scientists approach the notions of proof, expertise, and discovery? No comprehensive history of scientific computing has yet been written. This seminar will examine scientific articles, participants’ memoirs, and works by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to provide multiple perspectives on the use of computers in diverse fields of physical, biological, and social sciences and the humanities. We will explore how the computer transformed scientific practice, and how the culture of computing was influenced, in turn, by scientific applications.

REQUIREMENTS

Students are expected to participate in class discussions by reading the assigned materials before class, thinking about the issues and historical patterns suggested in the readings, and relating these issues to their own personal experience. Students will submit a short (one page) reading response paper via the Stellar class site by 9 a.m. in the morning before each class. The papers are intended to provoke discussion, rather than give definitive answers. The instructor will provide tentative questions for response papers, but students are encouraged to raise their own questions. The response papers will serve as a basis for subsequent discussion in class.

Assignments for this course also include a final paper (10-15 pages; typed, double-spaced, with 1.25" margins). The final paper is due in class on May 12. On that day, students will give brief presentations (5-10 min.) of their final papers. A proposal for the final paper (1-2 pages) is due in class on April 7. It will receive the instructor’s feedback the following week. The proposal should include: (1) the central question the final paper will address; (2) the historical significance of this question and how it relates to discussions in class; (3) a brief outline; and (4) a tentative bibliography, including both primary and secondary sources.

GRADING

The seminar meets only once a week. This means that attendance is particularly important. If you do need to miss class, you must obtain permission from the instructor in advance. Final grades will be determined as follows: class participation (30%), reading response papers (40%), and the final paper (30%).

CLASS SCHEDULE

Week 1: February 4. Introduction. Course Overview.

Week 2: February 11. Issues in the History of Computing

• Edwards, Paul N. “From ‘Impact’ to Social Process: Computers in Society and Culture.” Chapter 12 in Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, edited by Sheila Jasanoff (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1994).

• Mahoney, Michael S. “The History of Computing in the History of Technology.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 10 (1988): 113-125.

• Kling, Rob. “Reading ‘All About’ Computerization: How Genre Conventions Shape Non-Fiction Social Analysis.” The Information Society 10, no. 3 (1994): 147-172.

Week 3: February 18. Computers in Nuclear Physics: ENIAC and the Hydrogen Bomb

• Galison, Peter. “Monte Carlo Simulations: Artificial Reality.” In Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp. 689-780.

• Kowarski, L. “The Impact of Computers on Nuclear Science.” In Computing As a Language of Physics, edited by International Center for Theoretical Physics (Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency, 1972), pp. 27-37.

Week 4: February 25. Computers in Meteorology: Simulating the World

• Edwards, Paul N. “The World in a Machine: Origins and Impacts of Early Computerized Global Systems Models.” In Systems, Experts, and Computers, edited by Thomas P. Hughes and Agatha C. Hughes (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000), pp. 221-254.

• Edwards, Paul N. “Global Climate Science, Uncertainty and Politics: Data-laden Models, Model-Filtered Data.” Science as Culture 8:4 (1999): 437-472.

Week 5: March 3. Computers in Mathematics: The Logic Theorist, the Four-Color Problem, and the Automation of Proof

• MacKenzie, Donald. “The Automation of Proof: A Historical and Sociological Exploration.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 17, no. 3 (Fall 1995): 7-29.

• MacKenzie, Donald. “Slaying the Kraken: The Sociohistory of a Mathematical Proof.” Social Studies of Science 29, no. 1 (February 1990): 7-60.

• Simon, Herbert A. “Climbing the Mountain: Artificial Intelligence Achieved.” In Models of My Life (New York: Basic Books, 1991), pp. 198-214.

Week 6: March 10. Computers in Cognitive Psychology: The General Problem Solver and Psychological Theory

• Newell, Allen, and Herbert A. Simon. “Computer Simulation of Human Thinking.” Science 134, no. 3495 (22 December 1961): 2011-2017.

• Newell, Allen. “Remarks on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Psychology.” In Theoretical Approaches to Non-numerical Problem Solving, edited by R. B. Banerji and M. D. Mesarovic (Berlin and New York: Springer-Verlag, 1970), pp. 363-400.

• Frijda, Nico H. “Problems of Computer Simulation.” Behavioral Science 12 (1967): 59-67.

• Weizenbaum, Joseph. “Computer Models in Psychology.” In Computer Power and Human Reason (New York: Freeman, 1976), pp. 154-181.

Week 7: March 17. Computers in Biochemistry: DENDRAL and the Modeling of Scientific Discovery

• Lederberg, Joshua. “How DENDRAL Was Conceived and Born.” In A History of Medical Informatics (New York: ACM Press, 1987), 14-36.

• Lindsay, Robert K., Bruce G. Buchanan, and Edward A. Feigenbaum. “DENDRAL: A Case Study of the First Expert System for Scientific Hypothesis Formation.” Artificial Intelligence 61 (1993): 209-261.

• Simon, Herbert A. “Computer Modeling of Scientific and Mathematical Discovery Processes.” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (New Series) 11, no. 2 (October 1984): 247-262.

• Grabiner, Judith V. “Computers and the Nature of Man: A Historian’s Perspective on Controversies about Artificial Intelligence.” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (New Series) 15, no. 2 (October 1986): 113-126.

• Browse a collection of documents on DENDRAL at <http://hrst.mit.edu/hrs/bioinformatics/public/PrimarySite.html>

Week 8: March 24. Spring Vacation.

Week 9: March 31. Computers in Biomedicine: MYCIN and the Formalization of Expertise

• Davis, Randall, Bruce Buchanan, and Edward Shortliffe. “Production Rules as a Representation for a Knowledge-Based Consultation Program.” Artificial Intelligence 8 (1977): 15–45.

• Shortliffe, Edward. “Clinical Decisions Based on Physician-Computer Interactions: A Symbolic Reasoning Approach.” 1977 annual meeting of the Society for Computer Medicine. 12 pp.

• Forsythe, Diana E. “Engineering Knowledge: The Construction of Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence.” Social Studies of Science 23 (1993): 445-477.

• Forsythe, Diana E. “Blaming the User in Medical Informatics: The Cultural Nature of Scientific Practice.” In Studying Those Who Study Us: An Anthropologist in the World of Artificial Intelligence (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), pp. 1-15.

• Browse a collection of documents on MYCIN at <http://hrst.mit.edu/hrs/bioinformatics/public/PrimarySite.html>

Week 10: April 7. Computers in the Laboratory: New Freedom or New Constraints?

• Clark, Wesley. “The LINC was Early and Small.” In A History of Medical Informatics (New York: ACM Press, 1987), 51-73.

• Rosenfeld, Samuel A. “Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC): The Genesis of a Technological Revolution.” Seminar in Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the LINC Computer, November 30, 1983. <http://history.nih.gov/exhibits/linc/full-text.html>

• Spinrad, R. J. “Automation in the Laboratory.” Science 158, no. 3797 (6 October 1967): 55-60.

• Johnson, Edward S. “The Computer as Experimenter.” Behavioral Science 12 (1967): 484-489.

• Johnson, Edward S., and Robert F. Baker. “The Computer as Experimenter: New Results.” Behavioral Science 18 (1973): 377-385.

Week 11: April 14. Computers in Genetics: MOLGEN and Experiment Design

• Friedland, Peter, and Laurence H. Kedes. “Discovering the Secrets of DNA.” Communications of the ACM 28, no. 11 (November 1985): 1164-1186.

• Stefik, Mark. “Planning and Meta-Planning (MOLGEN: Part 2).” Artificial Intelligence 14, no. 2 (September 1980): 141-169.

• Lenoir, Timothy. “Shaping Biomedicine as an Information Science.” In Proceedings of the 1998 Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems, edited by Mary Ellen Bowden, Trudi Bellardo Hahn, and Robert V. Williams (Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc., 1999), pp. 27-45.

• Browse a collection of documents on MOLGEN at <http://hrst.mit.edu/hrs/bioinformatics/public/PrimarySite.html>

Week 12: April 21. Supercomputing at Home: A Social Experiment in Internet-Based Distributed Computing

• Johnson, George. “Supercomputing ‘@Home’ Is Paying Off.” The New York Times (23 April 2003): F1.

• Browse documents and read news coverage:

  • Folding@home: <http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/>

  • Genome@home: <http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/genome/>

  • SETI@home: <http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/>

Week 13: April 28. Computers in Linguistics: ELIZA, MARGIE, and the Study of Natural Language

• Weizenbaum, Joseph. “ELIZA – A Computer Program for the Study of Natural Language Communication Between Man and Machine.” Communications of the ACM 9, no. 1 (January 1966): 36-45.

• Schank, Roger, et al. “Inference and Paraphrase by Computer.” Communications of the ACM 22, no. 3 (July 1975): 309-328.

• Weizenbaum, Joseph. “The Computer and Natural Language.” In Computer Power and Human Reason (New York: Freeman, 1976), pp. 182-201.

• Try ELIZA emulator at <http://www-ai.ijs.si/eliza/eliza.html>

Week 14: May 5. Computers in the Humanities: Hype, Text, and Hypertext

• van Dam, Andries. “Hypertext '87: Keynote Address.” Communications of the ACM 31, no. 7 (July 1988): 887-895.

• Beeman, Wiliam O., et al. “Hypertext and Pluralism: From Lineal to Non-lineal Thinking.” Proceeding of the ACM conference on Hypertext, November 1987, pp. 67-88.

• Trigg, Randall H., and Peggy M. Irish. “Hypertext Habitats: Experiences of Writers in NoteCards.” Proceeding of the ACM conference on Hypertext, November 1987, pp. 89-108.

• Raskin, Jef. “The Hype in Hypertext: A Critique.” Proceeding of the ACM conference on Hypertext, November 1987, pp. 325-330.

• Ruhleder, Karen. “Reconstructing Artifacts, Reconstructing Work: From Textual Edition to On-Line Databank.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 20, no. 1 (Winter 1995): 39-64.

• Crane, Gregory, et al. “The Symbiosis Between Content and Technology in the Perseus Digital Library.” Culture Interactive, no. 2 (October 2000). http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/perseus/

• Browse the Perseus Digital Library at <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/>

Week 15: May 12. Final paper presentations