JF Ptak Science Books // Blog Bookstore

Soem Work by the Discipline-Bending Nicholas Rashevsky

RASHEVSKY, Nicholas.  "Mathematical Biology of Learning to Drive and Automobile", in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, March, 1963, volume 25/1, pp 51-9, offered in the monthly issue of pp 1-123. Original wrappers. VG copy. $125

_____.  "The Geometrization of Biology",  in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, volume 18/1, pp 31-57.  In the full monthly issue of 87pp.  Formerly from the library of the Committee on Mathematical Biology, University of Chicago,(mostly blacked-out with magic marker on the front wrapper) the publishers of the Bulletin. This was H.D. Landahl's copy, with his name at top front wrapper.  $125

_____.  "Mathematical Biophysics of Growth", in The Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, volume 1, number 3, September 1939, pp 119-128 in the monthly issue of pp 119-149. Original wrappers. Very nice copy; there's a tear in the upper third wrapper spine. This is a scarce copy of the publication in the original (white) wrappers.  $125

Early Paper on the Use of Commercial Calculators to Scientific Computing (1946)

COMRIE,  Leslie.  "The Application of Commercial Calculating Machines to Scientific Computing".  Washington DC:  National Research Council,  1946.  1st edition.  Mathematical Tables and other Aids to Computation, II/16  Pp 149-196  8vo.  Original printed wrappers.  Very good condition.  Original owner's name has been rubber stamped twice on the cover.  $250

This pamphlet is offered in its original green wrappers for the month of October 1946.  "Comrie pioneered the use of commercial accounting machines in scientific applications, especially in the production of mathematical tables. The above article describes the first use of a punched-card tabulating system in a purely scientific application. The following on Comrie from Columbia University: Leslie J. Comrie, Ph.D, (1893-1950): astronomer and pioneer in mechanical computation, born in Pukekohe, New Zealand, and educated at Auckland University College, University College London, and Cambridge University, where he received a Ph.D. in astronomy.  Like his American contemporary, Columbia University Astronomy Professor Wallace Eckert, Comrie was a pioneer in the application of punched-card machinery to astronomical calculations and the production of astronomical and mathematical tables: the first scientific use of these machines, which had been designed purely for business use."

FEIGENBAUM, , Edward A. Computers and Thought. McGraw Hill, 1962. 535pp. Cloth, with dustjacket. A fine copy.  First edition. $150

 Contributions include: A.M. Turing: Can a Machine Think?/ Allen Newell, J.C. Shaw, and H.A. Simon: Chess-playing programs and the problem of complexity; Empirical Explorations with the Logic Theory Machine; A Case Study in Heuristics/ H. Gelernter: Realization of a Geometry-Theorem Proving Machine/ H. Gelernter, J.R. Hansen, and D.W. Loveland: Empirical Explorations of the Geometry-Theorem Proving Machine/ Fred M. Tonge: Summary of a Heuristic Line Balancing Procedure/ James R. Slagle: A Heuristic Program that Solves Symbolic Integration Problems in Freshman Calculus/ Bert F. Green Jr., Alice K. Wolf, Carol Chomsky and Kenneth Laughery: Baseball: an Automatic Question Answerer/ Robert K. Lindsay: Inferential Memory as the Basis of Machines which Understand Natural Language/ Oliver G. Selfridge and Ulric Neisser: Pattern Recognition by Machine/ Leonard Uhr and Charles Vossler: A Pattern-Recognition Program that Generates, Evaluates and Adjusts its own Operators/ Allen Newell and H.A. Simon: GPS, a Problem that Simulates Human Thought/ Edward A. Feigenbaum: The Simulation of Verbal Learning Behavior/ Earl B. Hunt and Carl I. Hovland: Programming a Model of Human Concept Formulation/ Julian Feldman: Simulation of Behavior in the Binary Choice Experiment/ Geoffrey P.E. Clarkson: A Model of the Trust Investment Process/ John T. Gullahorn and Jeanne E. Gullahorn: A Computer Model of Elementary Social Behavior/ Paul Armer: Attitudes Towards Intelligent Machines/ Marvin Minsky: Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence/ Marvin Minsky: A Selected Descriptor-Indexed Bibliography to the Literature on Artificial Intelligence.

Early paper on his educational/interactive machines (1964)

PASK, Gordon.  "Adaptive Teaching Systems and a Minima, Cybernetic Model for Designing Them", in Cybernetica, vol 7 #2, Namur, 1964, pp 125-143 (with numerous illustrations) in the issue of pp (73)-143. Nice sharp copy, with the original wrappers, this removed from a larger bound volume, and so there is no cover to the spine. Very good copy.  $150  Early paper on his educational/interactive machines.   

"Dr. Pask received his M.A. in Natural Sciences at Cambridge in 1952, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from London University in 1964. He founded System Research Ltd. in Richmond, Surrey, England, an institute devoted to the study of adaptive teaching machines and self-organized learning systems. He has held a number of positions including Research Director of System Research Ltd.; Professor in the Institute of Cybernetics, Brunel University; Associate Professor: University of Illinois, University of Mexico, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Oregon, and Open University. He has also served as Consultant, Solartron Electron Ltd.; and Member of Editorial Board, International Journal of Man-Machine Studies."--Cybnerticians, from the George Washington University website, here.

Manufacturer's Catalog for an Harmonic Analyzer, 1916

Analyseur Harmonique contruit par G. Coradi a Zurich, “Avec une theorie de le Mr. le Professeur O. Henrici a Londres”. Printed in Zurich by Aschmann & Scheller, 1915 (2^nd edition). 25x18.5cm, 11pp, 7 illustrations, plus two laid-in sheets 15x22cm featuring the Coradi Harmonischer Analysator Zahnrad-Typ (printed on tissue, most of the sheet being an illustration of the device). In the original wrappers.

• Provenance: Library of Congress, Smithsonian Deposit, with the “deposit” and “surplus” rubber stamps on the front cover. Overall the pamphlet is in Good condition, with some chipping thereabouts on the covers, though internally quite nice. $750

Given the rarity of this publication--and that I have in all of these years never seen a catalog like this one, and so early--I've reproduced the short pamphlet in full, below. 

Scarce publication, with WolrdCat/OCLC locating only two copies (in the Netherlands) ) of this 2^nd edition and one copy of a “10^th edition” (Spain), with no other copies being located for any other editions, and evidently no copies in the U.S.  

Pages 1-5 is a “theoretical” section on the analyzer by O(laus Magtnus) Henrici (1840-1918), who earned his fame in constructing his own superb mechanical calculator (in the 1890's and publishing on it in 1894 (“On a New Harmonic Analyzer”, in Proceedings Of The Physical Society Of London, Vol. 13, Issue 1,pp. 77 - 89) following those of Lord Kelvin (1876) and A.A. Michelson and S.W. Stratton (1898). Page 5-11 are occupied with the description of three different sorts of analyzers (48-50) as well as integraphs (41, 42, and 42a).

There are also two 15x20cm separate sheets advertising the “Harmonische Analysator Zahn Typ”, with a beautiful full-sheet image of the machine.

“The resulting readings on the dials give the phase and amplitudes of up to ten Fourier harmonic components. According to Dayton Miller, the harmonic analyzer was “developed and mechanically perfected by Mr. G. Coradi [Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929)], of Zurich; and, as constructed by him, they are not only of beautiful workmanship, but they are also calculating machines of high precision.”--Case Western Reserve, Physics Dept. (Michelson was a professor at Case Western and thus the connection to the analyzer.)

website http://physics.case.edu/about/history/antique-physics-instruments/harmonic-analyzer-2/

See: Miller, Dayton C. (another Case Reserve instructor!), “The Henrici harmonic analyzer and devices for extending and facilitating its use.” Journal Of The Franklin Institute,  1916, Vol. 182,Issue 3, pp. 285 - 322. And: Kranz, Frederick W. “A mechanical synthesizer and analyzer”, Journal Of The Franklin Institute, 1927,  Vol. 204,Issue 2, pp. 245 - 262.

 

• Provenance: Library of Congress, Smithsonian Deposit, with the “deposit” and “surplus” rubber stamps on the front cover. Overall the pamphlet is in Good condition, with some chipping thereabouts on the covers, though internally quite nice. $750

Given the rarity of this publication--and that I have in all of these years never seen a catalog like this one, and so early--I've reproduced the short pamphlet in full, below. 

Scarce publication, with WolrdCat/OCLC locating only two copies (in the Netherlands) ) of this 2^nd edition and one copy of a “10^th edition” (Spain), with no other copies being located for any other editions, and evidently no copies in the U.S.  

Pages 1-5 is a “theoretical” section on the analyzer by O(laus Magtnus) Henrici (1840-1918), who earned his fame in constructing his own superb mechanical calculator (in the 1890's and publishing on it in 1894 (“On a New Harmonic Analyzer”, in Proceedings Of The Physical Society Of London, Vol. 13, Issue 1,pp. 77 - 89) following those of Lord Kelvin (1876) and A.A. Michelson and S.W. Stratton (1898). Page 5-11 are occupied with the description of three different sorts of analyzers (48-50) as well as integraphs (41, 42, and 42a).

There are also two 15x20cm separate sheets advertising the “Harmonische Analysator Zahn Typ”, with a beautiful full-sheet image of the machine.

“The resulting readings on the dials give the phase and amplitudes of up to ten Fourier harmonic components. According to Dayton Miller, the harmonic analyzer was “developed and mechanically perfected by Mr. G. Coradi [Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929)], of Zurich; and, as constructed by him, they are not only of beautiful workmanship, but they are also calculating machines of high precision.”--Case Western Reserve, Physics Dept. (Michelson was a professor at Case Western and thus the connection to the analyzer.)

website http://physics.case.edu/about/history/antique-physics-instruments/harmonic-analyzer-2/

See: Miller, Dayton C. (another Case Reserve instructor!), “The Henrici harmonic analyzer and devices for extending and facilitating its use.” Journal Of The Franklin Institute,  1916, Vol. 182,Issue 3, pp. 285 - 322. And: Kranz, Frederick W. “A mechanical synthesizer and analyzer”, Journal Of The Franklin Institute, 1927,  Vol. 204,Issue 2, pp. 245 - 262.

 

Logical Networks and Behavior (1956)

F.H. George. "Logical Networks and Behavior", in The Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, volume 18/4, December 1956, pp 337-349 in the issue of pp 265-356.  In the original orange-ish wrappers.  Fine+ copy.  A

Also with articles by Clifford Patlak, Nicolas Rashevsky, Anatol Rapoport ("On the Application of the Information Concept to Learning Theory".  

"Frank Honywill George was a British psychologist, cyberneticist and former Professor of Cybernetics and Director of the Institute of Cybernetics at the Brunel University, best known for his 1962 book The Brain as a Computer."--Wiki

BABBAGE, Charles.  "Note sur la machine suedoise de MM. Schutz pour calculer les tables mathematiques par la methode des differences, et en imprimer les resultats sur des planches stereotypes." In Comptes Rendus, volume 41 (1855): pp 557-60.  The weekly issue, removed cleanly froma larger bound volume.  $500

• "In 1854 Babbage's ideas came to the attention of George and Edvard Scheutz, a father and son from Sweden. After reading a description of the Difference Engine (by Babbage), they designed and built their own version. This machine was smaller and lighter than the engine conceived by Babbage. They used gears and levers that would have been suitable for the mechanism of a clock. In contrast, Babbage used technology that would have been appropriate for a steam engine. Babbage's engine, if completed, would have filled a room. The Scheutz engine sat nicely on a table and looked like a complicated music box. Babbage was pleased with Scheutz's engine and praised it publicly [in this appearance in the Comptes Rendus]"--Dictionary of Scientific Biography 

Broadside Advertisement for the UNIVAC 1004 (ca. 1962) with 6 bit Core Memory!

UNIVAC 1004 Card Processor 1004. 11x4.5" tri-fold opens to a display of 19x14" demonstrating the fabulous new and fast features of the machine, introduced in 1962 (and improved by 1966 as the 1005. The image also shows the 1004 printer and a model coyly holding a few punch cards like a geisha fan. Printed on a heavier linen stock.  Save for some bumping at the top, a fine copy.  $150

"The UNIVAC 1004 was a plug-board programmed punched card data processing system, introduced in 1962, by UNIVAC. Total memory was 961 characters (6 bits) of core memory. Peripherals were a card reader (400 cards/minute), a card punch (200 cards/minute) using proprietary 90-column, round-hole cards or IBM-compatible, 80-column cards, a drum printer (400 lines/minute) and a Uniservo tape drive. The 1004 was also supported as a remote card reader & printer via synchronous communication services. A U.S. Navy (Weapons Station, Concord) 1004 was dedicated to printing from tape as a means of offloading the task from their Solid State 80 mainframe, which produced the tapes. A plug-board program called Emulator was widely installed to convert 1004s to stored-program operation, reading in instructions from program decks of cards which determined the processing of the following data decks."--Wikipedia on UNIVAC

Vannevar Bush's Operational Circuit Analysis, 1929

Vannevar Bush (with Norbert Wiener).Operational Circuit Analysis. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1929. First edition.  x, 392pp. Includes an appendix ("B") "Fourier Analysis and Asymptotic Series", p366-379. 197x135mm. Bound in sturdy ribbed publisher's cloth. At least a Very Good copy, and possibly a Fine copy.  $200

"The technological, professional, and intellectual context out of which the development of the continuous integraph or product integraph-as the immediate forerunner of Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer-evolved is outlined. In particular the affinity between transmission line research and teaching at MlT's electrical engineering department under Bush's guidance, on the one hand, and the creation of the product integraph for evaluating integrals, which resulted from the appropriate differential equations of the transmission problems, on the other hand, is detailed. I emphasize Bush's perception of promoting engineering by easing the applied mathematics in this field as it appeared in his contribution to the development of operational circuit analysis as an appropriate engineering mathematics as well as in creating analog machinery that was inspired by the formulation of transmission line problems in terms of that very operational methods after Oliver Heaviside."--Abstract, "On the role of mathematics and mathematical knowledge in the invention of Vannevar Bush's early analog computers", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ( Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Oct-Dec 1996 ) 

Also this, from page 52 of the same source:

• “Despite his rather good knowledge of mathematics, during this period Bush learned to appreciate the value of cooperating with a professional mathematician for his expertise on intricate mathematical details. Jackson, who always sought to foster cooperation between his department and the departments of mathematics and physics, enrolled the young MIT mathematician Norbert Wiener in this enterprise. It was no accident that just Wiener had been picked, since he was one of the few mathematicians in the United States at that time who was very open to ideas from fields outside mathematics. Moreover, he was an ardent admirer of Heaviside’s work. Thus Bush probably learned as much as his students did about operational calculus, clearing problems together in class, often after he had consulted Wiener. In the course of these discussions, Wiener saw the “possibility of translating the Heaviside work into a more classical form in which the chief tool was harmonic analysis or the use of trigonometric development...This work led him and others to approach operational calculus via the Fourier transformation and to work on generalized harmonic analysis. Bush’s 1929 book on operational circuit analysis reflected that productive cooperation between a mathematician and an engineer. On the one hand, it contained an appendix by Wiener on “Fourier Analysis and Asymptotic Series” with his approach to operational calculus via the Fourier transformation, which was explained and made more comprehensible to the readers by Bush in the main text. “

An Unusual Calculating Machine (1900)

Georges Meslin, "Sur une machine a resoudre les equations". in Comptes Rendus des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences, 2 April 1900, the weekly issue comprising pp 865-960, with the Meslina article on pp 888-891. This issue is removed from a larger bound volume, and is not in great condition, with the edges of the pages being browned and somewhat brittle. On the other hand, it is an unusual item.  $50