JF Ptak Science Books // Blog Bookstore

A Calculating Device (1847) plus Boole, Joule, Hamilton, Draper, and others.

JF Ptak Science Books 

Moseley, Henry. (1801-1872) “The Rev. H. Moseley on a Machine for Calculating the Products, Quotients, Logarithms, 
and Powers of Numbers. (With a Plate.)”, appearing on pp 171-177 in The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical 
Magazine and Journal of Science, volume XXX, January-June 1847, printed in London by Richard and John F. Taylor.
8vo, vii, 536pp, 4 plates.  Bound in half calf, with raised bands; embossed on the covers is the attractive gilt stamp for
the Society of Writers to the Signet.  The spine is scuffed and missing one of the two spine labels; the text is fresh and crisp. 
Good copy.  $600

Moseley was a cleric and mathematician, author of a number of books and articles, and at one time professor of natural
philosophy at King's College; he is perhaps best remembered for developing the formula to calculate the stabilities of 
war ships (Debus, A.G., World's Who's Who of Science). (Moseley was by the way the father of Henry Nottidge Moseley 
and the grandfather of the great Henry G.J. Moseley and the Moseley we most remember (1887-1915).

Moseley writes in the opening paragraphs of this paper proposing the idea of a calculating machine, seemingly (to me ) a 3-D thought experiment, describing in theory how such a machine could work. It is frankly difficult for me to follow, though it is interesting to say the least, especially for 1847. He explains: “I HAVE proposed to myself in the construction of this machine, to determine mechanically the products, quotients, logarithms, squares, square roots, and other powers and roots of the natural numbers, by means of combinations of greater simplicity than have hitherto been applied to the purposes of mechanical calculation.” The design for the instrument looks like a pyramidal funnel with a screw gearworks operating a round wheel on the continuous bolt:

'Some of Moseley's other works include: Lectures on Astronomy, 1839, 4th edit. 1854; the article on 'Definite Integrals' in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, 1837; The Mechanical Principles of Engineering and Architecture (, London, 1843, 2nd edit. 1855), 'On the Dynamical Stability and on the Oscillations of Floating Bodies,' read before the Royal Society, 'Philosophical Transactions for 1850 (“One of the most extensively useful results of Moseley's mathematical labours was the publication of the formulas by which the dynamical stabilities of all ships of war have since been calculated. These formulae first appeared in a memoir 'On the Dynamical Stability and on the Oscillations of Floating Bodies"); Syllabus of a Course of Experimental Lectures on the Theory of Equilibrium , London, 1831; A Treatise on Mechanics, applied to the Arts, including Statics and Hydrostatics, 1834 ; 3rd edit. 1847;  Illustrations of Mechanics,  London, 1839; Theoretical and Practical Papers on Bridges, London, 1843; and some thirty-five papers on natural philosophy.--[Source: Dictionary of National Biography, vol 39, 1885-1900.]

• Full text of the article and the rest of the volume here (via Biodiversity Library:http://biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53520#page/185/mode/1up)

Other works in this volume include some very big names:

*Draper, John W. "On Production of Light by Heat", pp 345-360 ("ALTHOUGH the phaenomenon of the production of

light by all solid bodies, when their temperature is raised to a certain degree, is one of the most familiar in chemistry, no person

so far as I know has hitherto attempted a critical investigation of it."). This may be the most significant paper in this

volume. 

Draper, John W. “Mr. J. W. Draper's Remarks on the Existence and Mechanism of the Negative or Protecting Rays of
the Sun”, ...pp 87

Boole, George. “Mr. G. Boole's Remarks on the Rev. B. Bronwin's Method for Differential Equations”, pp 6-8;

Boole, George. “Mr. G. Boole's Note on a Class of Differential Equations”, pp. 96-97;

Joule, John Prescott. “Mr. J. P. Joule and Dr. Lyon Playfair on the Maximum Density 
of Water”, pp 41-47;

Joule, John Prescott. “Mr. J. P. Joule on the Effects of Magnetism upon the Dimensions of Iron and Steel Bars”,
 pp 76-86;

Joule, John Prescott. “J. P. Joule on the Effects of Magnetism, &c. upon the Dimensions of Iron and Steel Bars”,
 pp 225-241;

Airy, G.B. “The Astronomer Royal on Sir David Brewster's New Analysis of Solar Light”, pp 73-76 WITH: “Sir David
 Brewster's Reply to the Astronomer Royal on the  New Analysis of Solar Light”, pp 153-158; 

Henry, Joseph. “Prof. J. Henry on the Induction of Atmospheric Electricity on the Wires of the Electric Telegraph”, 
pp 186-194;

Foucault, Leon and Belfield Lefevre. “On a Method of producing Lights and Shades in equal perfection in 
Daguerreotype Pictures, by MM. Belfield Lefevre and Leon Foucault”, pp 213-214;

Becquerel, Edmond. “Observations on the Experiments of Messrs. Foucaultand Fizeau, relative to the action of 
the Red Rays in Daguerreotype Plates”,pp 214-218;

Brewster, David. “On the Knowledge of Distance given by Binocular Vision. (With a Plate.)”, pp 305-318 
(delightful!);

Hamilton, William Rowan. “On Quaternions ; or on a New System of Imaginaries in Algebra', pp  458-460;

Brewster, David. “Sir D. Brewster's Observations on the Analysis of the Spectrum 
by Absorption”,  pp 461-462;

Babbage on Chess! (1817) Plus Davy, Faraday, and others

[Babbage, Charles] "An Account of Euler's Method of Solving a Problem, relative to the Move of the Knight at the Game of Chess, from a  Correspondent", in The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, edited at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, published by John Murray for the Royal Institution, London, 1817-18; volume 3, No. V, article V,  pp.72-77; illustrated with an engraved plate; contained in the volume of xxiii, 435pp, with 4 plates (two folding).  Bound in half-calf with calf tips, and marbled boards.  $500

The "Correspondent" here is Mr. Babbage himself, with the authorship established at least by the time of his Passages from the Life of a Philosopher if not before. The Knight's Tour puzzle--in which a  knight is moved around a chessboard (8x8 grid, though smaller and much larger have been used) so that every square is touched only once--is ancient, with the host of the famous 18th century mathematical revelers³ positioning the problem in the dim past, with Lucas in 1882 and then Kraitchik in 1927² fixing it more resolutely in India over 2000 years ago.Passages from the life of a philosopher

Notes

1. See the "collected works" section in Babbage's Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864) where he outs himself as the author.  https://archive.org/stream/passagesfromlif01babbgoog/passagesfromlif01babbgoog_djvu.txt

2. "Chronology of Knight's Tours", compiled by George Jelliss, http://www.mayhematics.com/t/1g.htm

3. Just as a smaple the folks working on this puzzle in the 18th c included d'Alembert and Diderot in the Encyclopedie; Jacques Ozanam  in Recreations Mathematiques et Physiques; d'Ortous de Mairan, Abraham de Moivre, Pierre Rémond de Montmort; Jean Etienne Montucla,, Leonhard Euler, and many others.

The "Euler" in the title refers to Leonhard Euler "Solution d'une Question Curieuse qui ne Paroit Soumise a Aucune Analyse", Mémoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres, Année 1759, volume 15, pp.310-337, which was the first mathematical paper on knight's tours.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS to the volume (including Babbage, Farady, Wedgwood, Davy, and others):

• Babbage, Charles. "Note Respecting Elimination", pp 355-358. 
• "An Enquiry into the Origin of our Notion of Distance, Drawn up from Notes left by the late Thomas Wedgwood"
• "A Descriptive Account of Mr. Thompson's Laboratory at Cheltenham, for the Preparation of the Cheltenham Salts; with a Chemical Analysis of the Waters whence they are
  produced, by W. T. Brande"
• "Some Experiments and Observations on a new Acid Substance." By M. Faraday
• "Journal of a Voyage up the River Missouri, performed in 1811. By H. B. Brackenbridge, Esq. Author of Views in Louisiana." Second Edition. Baltimore, 1816. . . 11pp
• "An Account of the Life and Writings of Baron Guyton de Morveau, F. R. S. Member of the Institute of France, &c.&c..." By A. B. Granville, (47pp!)
• "An Account of some Experiments on the Escape of Gasses through Capillary Tubes." By Mr. Faraday
• "On the Cause of the Diminution of the Temperature of the Sea on approaching Land, or in passing over Banks in the Ocean." By Sir H. Davy

Interesting Signed Note by Computer Pioneer Herbert Simon, 1951

JF Ptak Science Books  

Interesting content letter from Simon (as Head of the Department of Industrial Management at Carnegie Institute of Technology) to Clifford Maloney (Chief of Biological Statistics at Camp Detrick, Maryland) dated April 6, 1951. The letter is in response to Dr. Maloney in regard to the idea of hierarchies in rational processes, with Simon being interested in their application to control mechanisms and computers. The paper has two very old remnants of horizontal folds. Fine copy. $250

 

Early and Influential (?) Paper in Artificial Intelligence (1964)

JF Ptak Science Books

RAPHAEL, Bertram.  SIR: a Computer Program for Semantic Information Retrieval. Published/printed by the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Defense Documentation Center, Defense Supply Agency, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, June 1964.  156PP+12PP, plus one page of biographical information on Raphael with a bibliography including his work on LISP, the last entry dated May 1964.  11x8 inches, some sort of photomechanical reproduction; yellow wrappers, staple-bound.  Fine condition.  $150

This is the Ph.D. dissertation by Raphael (b. 1936), with Marvin Minsky as thesis supervisor

Here's the abstract from an MIT publication Semantic Information Processing (1967) in which a form of this earlier paper appeared:

"SIR is a computer system, programmed in the LISP language, which accepts information and answers questions expressed in a restricted form of English. This system demonstrates what can reasonably be called an ability to "understand" semantic information. SIR's semantic and deductive ability is based on the construction of an internal model, which uses word associations and property lists, for the relational information normally conveyed in conversational statements. A format-matching procedure extracts semantic content from English sentences. If an input sentence is declarative, the system adds appropriate information to the model. If an input sentence is a question, the system searches the model until it either finds the answer or determines why it cannot find the answer. In all cases SIR reports its conclusions. The system has some capacity to recognize exceptions to general rules, resolve certain semantic ambiguities, and modify its model structure in order to save computer memory space. Judging from its conversational ability, SIR, is a first step toward intelligent man-machine communication. The author proposes a next step by describing how to construct a more general system which is less complex and yet more powerful than SIR. This proposed system contains a generalized version of the SIR model, a formal logical system called SIR1, and a computer program for testing the truth of SIR1 statements with respect to the generalized model by using partial proof procedures in the predicate calculus. The thesis also describes the formal properties of SIR1 and how they relate to the logical structure of SIR."-- Dspace http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/6904

The World's First Journal Devoted to the Computer

I was grazing in the warehouse and came upon this terrific volume: Mathematical Tables and Aids to Computation (volume 1&2, 1943-1947). It is the collection of the first two volumes of the world's first journal devoted to the computer, with a big gap in publication caused of course by WWII. There are a number of gems in the 900-odd pages in this volume, including the following papers. (Note that all of the below and more are readable online from Utah at of the MTAC, here.)

AIDS TO COMPUTATION, Mathematical Tables and. Volumes.  1-2, 1943-1947, 480+404pp.  Octavo.  Tight copy, ex-libris with exterior marks to a sturdy spine at foot, library  name stamped on page edges, few marks at rear endpaper and pastedown. A fresh, strong copy. Published by the National Research Council, two-volumes-in-one. (Note: there are no original separate wrappers bound in with the publication.) Bound in a sturdy red library cloth. This is a fantastic single-volume resource at a very good price:  $750  

• G. R. Stibitz "Should Automatic Computers be Large or Small?"
• 3 tight pages on the first appearance in English on the Zuse Z4 computer (1947, "This may be the earliest published description of Zuse's early computers available to post-World-War-II researchers outside of Germany and Switzerland. See \cite{Ceruzzi:1981:ECK} in an histcomput.bib for many more details)", 
• J. H. Curtiss "A Symposium of Large Scale Digital Calculating Machinery" (April 1947), 
• G. R. Stibitz "Film Slide Rule" (October 1947), 
•  L. J. C(omrie), "The Application of Commercial Calculating Machines to Scientific Computing" (April 1946), 
• H. H. Goldstine and Adele Goldstine "The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)" (July 1946), 
• R. C. A(rchibald) "Conference on Advanced Computation Techniques" (April 1946), 
• W. G. Bickley and N. W. McLachlan "Mathieu functions of integral order and their tabulation" (January 1946),  
• W. J. Eckert "Mathematical Tables on Punched Cards" (October 1945), 
• J. S. Frame "Machines for solving algebraic equations" (January 1945),

and more. See math.utah.edu for a very full and link-filled list of the papers.

 

Grace Hopper and Programming, 1953

Grace Murray Hopper.  "Compiling Routines", in Computers and Automation, volume 2, no.4, May 1953.  11x8 inches, ii + 33pp.  The Hopper article occupies pp 1-5.  This issue is complete, with the front and rear wrapper.  Also in this issue:  A.D. Booth "Machine Translation" and Marshall Stone, "Medical Diagnosis", plus a Who's Who in Computers (A-D) and section 2 (C,D,E) of  the first edition of the computer glossary. Very nice condition, the issue removed from a larger bound volume. $350

It was in this article that Hooper (1906-1992) laid out the foundations of compiling (which is a program that translates a program written in a high-level language into another language, usually machine language):

The following from Paul Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing, page 367:

Computers and Automation, the brainchild of the brainy not-child Edmund Berkeley, was the first popularly-published magazine published regarding the computer, its applications, it programming, and really just about everything else. (It appeared seven years after the Mathematical Tables and Aids to Computation was published in 1943, almost entirely to the mathematics and engineering communities.) Computers was published by Edmund Berkeley & Associates in NYC beginning in 1952., beginning its publishing journey as The Computing Machinery Field, its name changing to Computers and Automation in February 1953 (in volume 2, number 2). All issues have some fair space devoted to advertising, even though the issues generally ran between 32 and 40pp. Berkeley was a real-enough mathematician, engineer and computer pioneer, but he also had a pretty large taste for making these interests pay–which was essential, as the original print runs were not very large, though his advertisers were impressive. (According to the first issue, approximately 1200 people were on the mailing list for the journal, with around 2000 issues being printed each number. All told, this is not a large print run, and thus not many of the early issues have survived.) He was not averse to being somewhat outre with his journal—in addition to having contributors like Grace Hopper and Alton Householder, he also had Fletcher Pratt and Isaac Asimov writing some pretty arresting pieces from the SciFi/Futurama point of view.

An Extremely Early Computer Program for the BINAC, 1949

JF Ptak Science Books

[COMPUTER--BINAC] C-10 BINAC/UNIVAC Document. Ralph Mullendore archive, dated 9/24/1949. 11x8 inches. 8 sheets. Carbon copy (with indentations caused by being typed, on reverse.)

This seems to be a test routine for the BINAC on pp 1-3.

• See below for the entire document

At the end of page 3 begins what looks to be instructions for the UNIVAC:

 --“Supervisory Control Instructions”, “UNIVAC Switches”, “Supervisory Control Switches”, followed by “Features” (number of tape units, paralleling of input and output, internal memory capacity [12,000 decimal units or the equivalent), nature of data handled, basic operations, basic operation of time, basic operation of control, transfer of control, error indication, physical characteristics (“about 4,000 vacuum tubes”, the unit being 24'x4'x7').

--Specifications for Tape reading [UNISERVO] (function, speed of operations, acceleration, recording read, control, physical size

--UNIPRINTER. Includes function, operation, physical formulation

--Supervisory Control Unit: functions, keyboards, operating speeds.

--Recording medium: function, information storage, permanence, physical characteristics

--Alphanumeric Unityper: function, operating speeds.

 

 

Block Diagrams of the UNIVAC, 1950

JF Ptak Science Books

 [UNIVAC] Offered here is a collection of 19 leaves of block diagrams for 8 sections of the newly-installed UNIVAC computer at the Bureau of the Census, 1950, from the estate of Ralph Mullendore, a chief engineer in the design, construction and installation of this great computer. 

[Supervisory Control Panel]

Included are

• 1.  The Supervisory Control Panel (2 sheets of 3, including center and left third, both undated but assumed to be 1950 like all of the others. [Shown above]

• 2.  Input-Output controls.  3 sheets of 3. (left, middle and right thirds), dated 8/10/50 and 8/7/50

Brevity and Complexity--ALGOL, 1960

JF Ptak Science Books 

I think that I'd like to start a new category of observation for this blog--complicated work explained with celebrated brevity and clarity.  Earlier I wrote a post on a 24-page effort by the great polymath and mathematical titan, Henri Poincare, describing his Newtonian-clad version of relativity, and his certainly classifies as a superior effort in a short, clarifying description of a wide and complex topic.  Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is another--it is considerably longer though incredibly short for the work that it undertakes, ending with a sentence that has become an independently-standing aphorism, "Whereof one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence".

But for right now, I'd like to look at a splendidly short work.

 
Much is owed to people like Peter Naur, a Dane who made an enormous contribution in the development of computer languages by being the lead developer in the creation of ALGOL.  As a matter of fact Naur (b. 1928) received the computing world’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize (“highest distinction in Computer science")–the Turing Award–for this work, receiving the high honor in 2005. The official short description–again in the manner of the Nobel Committee– was “(f)or fundamental contributions to programming language design and the definition of ALGOL 60, to compiler design, and to the art and practice of computer programming”.         

This all came to mind while looking through Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 (published in the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, May 1960) which was edited by Naur.  ALGOL was the creation of 40+ minds, twelve of whom were listed contributing to this paper-–it is a great testament to Naur to control all of that input, producing a superb fifteen page report of great brevity, beautiful logic and accessibility.  Perhaps If the team was given a lot more time Naur could’ve made his work even more succinct, but I really doubt it.  It is written in a language that is somewhat foreign to me, but I can certainly appreciate the way the work is structured its precise manner of presentation.  It seems to me a hallmark of communicating complicated ideas in a small space.

ITEM:  Naur, Peter (Editor)  "Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60".  Offprint:  Communications of the ACM,  May, 1960, vol 3, #5. Pp 299-314.  Rare.  $750.00

A One-Line Entry into the Computer Revolution: the Transistor, 1949

JF Ptak Science Books

One of the things I love about working my way through old scientific journals is when I find the issue that I'm looking for and scroll down the list of contributors to find the significant article that I want.  Long list, usually; and then, after making my way through 30 or 40 lines of tight type of the index I find it. [This by the way is one of those experiences that is being replaced by the digital library.]   Even though the paper on pp 1208 through 1226  of the 15 April 1949 issue of The Physical Review looks like any other, it is today seen as revolutionary. The entry for "Physical Principles Involved in Transistor Action" by John Bardeen (two-time Nobel in physics) and Walter Brattain (Nobel '72) shows up about halfway down the index, sandwiched in some very good company (Enrico Fermi's "Origins of Cosmic Radiation" and a number of others), and does not show upbolded, or highlighted, or with an asterisk.  Such is the nature of publication in the academic journal world, everything delivered with equal weight. 

It makes me wonder though how it would've felt to open this journal for the first time back there in mid-April '49, turning to page 1210 to see the microphotograph of the cutaway of a model of the transistor.  This was the defining technical publication on the transistor¹, which was the first massive step towards microminiaturization and the explosive new growth in the computer, allowing far more powerful machines to be designed in far less space, in far less amounts of time, and on and on.  It is one of the first steps in the Information Revolution, moving the computer from massive racks of electronic tubes to more simple, elegant, nimble and by-far faster circuit boards with transistors (and resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, etc.) to make an electronic circuit.  This would be the standard for computer construction, only supplemented by Jack Kilby (TI)  and Robert Noyce (Fairchild Camera) in 1958/9 with the integrated circuit, where transistors are made smaller still and produced in groups on circuit boards rather than individually.

The photo above shows a cutaway of the transistor, and is the first time it was published--the first photo of what was one of the 20th century's greatest inventions. 

 

Notes

1.  The paper was published simultaneously in the Bell System Technical Journal; Bardeen and Brattain were with the Bell Labs.  The Bell journal also contained another revolutionary paper in the same volume, Claude Shannon's "Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems", which is one of the most important early papers on electronics and cryptology.

• BARDEEN,  John and Walter Brattain:  Physical Principles Involved in Transistor Action;  Lancaster, Pa:  Physical Review,  1949.  1st edition.  The Physical Review, Vol 75, Second Series, No. 8    8vo.  Printed wrappers.  Fine condition.   This is the entire green-wrappered issue for April 15, 1949; work for which Bardeen shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1972. Save for a little wear and a pinhole in the spine, this is a fine (+) copy--really a nice, bright copy of a significant and important paper by Bardeen and Brattain, scarce in the original wrappers.  $1450