by George Dyson
33. Willis Ware, interview with author.
34. J. H. Bigelow, H. H Goldstine, R. W. Melville, P. Panagos, J. H. Pomerene, J. Rosenberg, M. Rubinoff, and W. H. Ware, “Fifth Interim Progress Report on the Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument, January 1, 1949,” p. 31, IAS.
35. Herman Goldstine to John von Neumann, July 2, 1947, IAS.
36. F. C. Williams and T. Kilburn, “A Storage System for Use with Binary-Digital Computing Machines,” draft, December 1, 1947, p. 1, JHB.
37. Burks, Goldstine, and von Neumann, Preliminary Discussion, p. 8; Williams and Kilburn, “A Storage System,” p. 1.
38. Williams and Kilburn, “A Storage System.”
39. Ibid.
40. Julian Bigelow, interview with Richard R. Mertz.
41. Julian Bigelow to F. C. Williams, September 11, 1952, JHB.
42. Bigelow, Goldstine, Melville, Panagos, Pomerene, Rosenberg, Rubinoff, and Ware, “Fifth Interim Progress Report on the Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument,” p. 2.
43. Ibid., p. 4.
44. Bigelow, “Computer Development,” p. 304; “Institute for Advanced Study Electronic Computer Project Monthly Progress Report, August 1949,” p. 4, IAS.
45. Jack Rosenberg, interview with author; Julian Bigelow to Warren Weaver, December 2, 1941, JHB.
46. Morris Rubinoff, interview with Richard Mertz.
47. J. H. Bigelow, T. W. Hildebrandt, P. Panagos, J. H. Pomerene, J. Rosenberg, R. J. Slutz, and W. H. Ware, “Fourth Interim Progress Report on the Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument, July 1, 1948,” p. II-16-17, IAS.
48. Leon D. Harmon, “Report of Tests Made on Two Groups of ‘Round Robin’ Williams Storage Tubes at IAS,” July 6, 1953, IAS.
49. James Pomerene, interview with Nancy Stern.
50. Julian Bigelow, interview with Nancy Stern.
51. F. J. Gruenberger, “The History of the Johnniac,” RAND Memorandum RM-5654-PR (Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, October 1968), p. 22.
52. Jan A. Rajchman, “Memo to V. K. Zworykin re: Status of work on Selectron up to Oct. 5, 1948,” October 5, 1948, RCA.
53. Willis H. Ware, interview with Nancy Stern.
54. Herman H. Goldstine to Mina Rees, October 7, 1947, JHB.
55. Jan Rajchman, interview with Richard R. Mertz; Gruenberger, “The History of the Johnniac,” p. 25.
56. Julian Bigelow, interview with Nancy Stern.
57. Julian Bigelow, interview with Richard R. Mertz.
58. Willis Ware, interview with author.
59. James Pomerene, interview with Nancy Stern.
60. “Power Supply and Cooling System for Electronic Computer Project,” n.d., 1953, IAS.
61. Institute for Advanced Study Electronic Computer Project Machine and General Arithmetic Operating Logs, IAS.
62. John von Neumann, Memorandum to Commander R. Revelle, Office of Naval Research, October 21, 1947, VNLC.
63. Institute for Advanced Study Electronic Computer Project Machine and General Arithmetic Operating Logs, IAS.
64. Ibid.
65. Morris Rubinoff, interview with Richard Mertz.
66. James Pomerene, interview with Nancy Stern.
67. Willis H. Ware, interview with Nancy Stern.
68. Willis H. Ware, interview with Nancy Stern; James Pomerene, interview with Nancy Stern.
69. Atle Selberg, interview with author, May 11, 2004, GBD.
70. Willis H. Ware, interview with Nancy Stern.
71. Morris Rubinoff, interview with Richard Mertz.
72. Julian Bigelow, interview with Nancy Stern.
73. Julian Bigelow, interview with Richard R. Mertz.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Bigelow, “Computer Development,” p. 291.
NINE: CYCLOGENESIS
1. Frank Aydelotte to John von Neumann, June 5, 1947, IAS.
2. Philip Duncan Thompson, “A History of Numerical Weather Prediction in the United States,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 64, no. 7 (July 1983): 757.
3. Philip Duncan Thompson, in John. M. Lewis, “Philip Thompson: Pages from a Scientist’s Life,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 77, no. 1 (January 1966): 107–8.
4. Lewis Richardson, as quoted by Ernest Gold, “Lewis Fry Richardson, 1881–1953,” Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 9 (November 1954): 230.
5. Ibid., p. 222.
6. Meaburn Tatham and James E. Miles, eds., The Friends’ Ambulance Unit 1914–1919: A Record (London: Swarthmore Press, 1920), p. 212.
7. Olaf Stapledon to Agnes Miller, December 8, 1916, in Robert Crossley, ed., Talking Across the World: The Love Letters of Olaf Stapledon and Agnes Miller, 1913–1919 (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1987), pp. 192–93.
8. Stapledon to Miller, December 26, 1917, in Crossley, ed., Talking Across the World, pp. 264–65.
9. Stapledon to Miller, January 12, 1918, in Crossley, ed., Talking Across the World, p. 270.
10. Lewis Fry Richardson, Weather Prediction by Numerical Process (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1922), p. 219.
11. Lewis F. Richardson, “The Approximate Arithmetical Solution by Finite Differences of Physical Problems Involving Differential Equations, with an Application to the Stresses in a Masonry Dam,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A 210 (1911): 307.
12. Richardson, Weather Prediction by Numerical Process, p. xi.
13. Ibid., p. xiii.
14. Ibid., pp. 219 and xi.
15. Thompson, “A History of Numerical Weather Prediction,” p. 757.
16. Ibid., p. 758.
17. Philip Duncan Thompson, “Charney and the Revival of Numerical Weather Prediction,” in R. Lindzen, E. Lorenz, and G. Platzman, eds., The Atmosphere—A Challenge: The Science of Jule Gregory Charney (Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1990), p. 98.
18. Akrevoe Kondopria Emmanouilides, interview with author, June 3, 2003, GBD; Philip Thompson, interview with William Aspray, December 5, 1986, CBI, call no. OH 125.
19. Frank Aydelotte, Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Committee, May 13, 1946, IAS; Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Committee, May 20, 1946, IAS; Aydelotte, Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Committee, May 13, 1946, IAS.
20. Jule Charney to Stan Ulam, December 6, 1957, SUAPS.
21. Lewis Strauss, Men and Decisions (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1962), pp. 232–33.
22. Vladimir K. Zworykin, “Outline of Weather Proposal,” RCA Princeton Laboratories, October 1945, pp. 1, 4; John von Neumann to Vladimir Zworykin, October 14, 1945, RCA.
23. Strauss, Men and Decisions, pp. 233–34.
24. Sidney Shalett, “Electronics to Aid Weather Figuring,” New York Times, January 11, 1946, p. 12.
25. Ibid.
26. Proposal submitted by Frank Aydelotte (written by John von Neumann) to Lt. Commander D. F. Rex, U.S. Navy Office of Research and Inventions, May 8, 1946, IAS; John von Neumann to Lewis Strauss, May 4, 1946, VNLC; John von Neumann, “Can We Survive Technology?” Fortune, June 1955, p. 151.
27. Institute for Advanced Study, Conference on Meteorology, August 29–30, 1946, undated summary, p. 3, VNLC.
28. Herman H. Goldstine, “Report on the Housing Situation for Meteorology Personnel,” July 15, 1946, IAS.
29. John von Neumann, “Meteorology Project Progress Report for the period of November 15, 1946, to April 1, 1947,” April 8, 1947, p. 4, IAS.
30. Philip Thompson and John von Neumann, “Meteorology Project Report of Progress During the Period from April 1, 1947, to December 15, 1947,” p. 2, IAS.
31. Philip Thompson, interview with William Aspray.
32. Jule Charney to Stanislaw Ulam, December 6, 1957, SUAPS.
33. Jule G. Charney, “Numerical Methods in Dynamical Meteorology,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 41, no. 11 (November 1955): 799.
34
. Jule Charney to Stanislaw Ulam, December 6, 1957.
35. Joseph Smagorinsky, interview with author, May 4, 2004, GBD; Jule Charney, “Progress Report of the Meteorology Group at the IAS, June 1, 1948, to June 30, 1949,” p. 2, IAS.
36. Jule Charney to Philip Thompson, February 12, 1947, in Lindzen, Lorenz, and Platzman, eds., The Atmosphere—A Challenge, p. 114.
37. Philip Thompson and John von Neumann, “Meteorology Project Report of Progress During the Period from April 1, 1947, to December 15, 1947,” p. 10, IAS.
38. Margaret Smagorinsky, interview, May 4, 2004, GBD.
39. George W. Platzman, “The ENIAC Computation of 1950: Gateway to Numerical Weather Prediction,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 60, no. 4 (April 1979): 307.
40. Jule Charney to George Platzman, April 10, 1950, in Platzman, “The ENIAC Computation of 1950,” pp. 310–11.
41. Platzman, “The ENIAC Computation of 1950,” p. 310; John von Neumann, J. G. Charney, and R. Fjørtoft, “Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation,” Tellus 2 (1950): 275.
42. Charney, “Numerical Methods in Dynamical Meteorology,” p. 800.
43. Thelma Estrin, interview with Frederik Nebeker, August 24–25, 1992, IEEE History Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.; Raoul Bott, interview with author.
44. Jule Charney, “Numerical Prediction of Cyclogenesis,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 40 (1954): 102.
45. Clarence D. Smith, “The Destructive Storm of November 25–27,” Monthly Weather Review 78 (November 1950): 204.
46. Jule Charney, “Conversations with George Platzman,” recorded August 1980, in Lindzen, Lorenz, and Platzman, eds., The Atmosphere—A Challenge, p. 54.
47. Charney, “Numerical Prediction of Cyclogenesis,” p. 102.
48. Electronic Computer Project machine log, May 27, 1953, IAS.
49. Norman A. Phillips, “Progress Report of the Meteorology Group at the IAS, July 1, 1952 to September 30, 1952,” p. 4, IAS; Harry Wexler to chief of U.S. Weather Bureau, June 11, 1953, in Joseph Smagorinsky, “The Beginnings of Numerical Weather Prediction and General Circulation Modeling: Early Recollections,” Advances in Geophysics 25 (1983): 23.
50. Philip Thompson, interview with William Aspray.
51. Smagorinsky, “Beginnings of Numerical Weather Prediction,” p. 25; Institute for Advanced Study Electronic Computer Project Monthly Progress Report: September, 1954, p. 3, IAS.
52. Jule Charney to Stanislaw Ulam, December 6, 1957, SUAPS.
53. Richard L. Pfeffer, ed., Dynamics of Climate: The Proceedings of a Conference on the Application of Numerical Integration Techniques to the Problem of the General Circulation, Held October 26–28, 1955, at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey (New York: Pergamon Press, 1960), p. 3.
54. John von Neumann, “Some Remarks on the Problem of Forecasting Climatic Fluctuations,” in ibid., pp. 10–11.
55. Pfeffer, ed., Dynamics of Climate, p. 132.
56. Ibid., pp. 133–36.
57. Pfeffer, ed., Dynamics of Climate, pp. 133–36.
58. Charney, “Conversations with George Platzman,” in Lindzen, Lorenz, and Platzman, eds., The Atmosphere—A Challenge, pp. 57–58.
59. Jule Charney and Walter Munk, “The Applied Physical Sciences,” talk for Institute for Advanced Study Electronic Computer Project 25th Anniversary, 1972, IAS.
60. Ibid.
61. Von Neumann, “Can We Survive Technology?” p. 151.
62. Smagorinsky, “Beginnings of Numerical Weather Prediction,” p. 29.
TEN: MONTE CARLO
1. Klára von Neumann, Johnny, ca. 1963.
2. Klára von Neumann, The Grasshopper.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. John Wheeler to Carl Eckart, November 23, 1963, KVN.
9. Klára von Neumann, The Grasshopper.
10. Ibid.
11. Mariette von Neumann to John von Neumann, September 22, 1937, in Frank Tibor, “Double Divorce: The Case of Mariette and John von Neumann,” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 34, no. 2 (1991): 361.
12. Mariette von Neumann to John von Neumann, n.d., 1937, in ibid.
13. Klára von Neumann to John von Neumann, November 11, 1937, KVN.
14. John von Neumann to Stanislaw Ulam, April 22, 1938, SFU.
15. Klára von Neumann, Two New Worlds.
16. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, September 14, 1938, KVN.
17. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, September 6, 1938, KVN.
18. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, September 5, 1938, KVN; John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, September 13, 1938, KVN.
19. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, September 18, 1938, KVN.
20. Morgenstern, in John von Neumann, documentary.
21. Klára von Neumann, Two New Worlds.
22. Harry E. King, Credit Manager, Essex House and Casino-on-the-Park, New York, to the Institute for Advanced Study, December 24, 1938, IAS.
23. Klára von Neumann, Two New Worlds.
24. Willis Ware, interview with author.
25. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, August 10, 1939, KVN.
26. Jack Rosenberg, interview with author, February 12, 2005.
27. Richtmyer, “People Don’t Do Arithmetic”; Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician, p. 79; Ulam, “Conversations with Gian-Carlo Rota.”
28. Jack Rosenberg, interview with author, February 12, 2005; Marina von Neumann Whitman, interview with author, February 9, 2006.
29. Klára von Neumann to John von Neumann, n.d., ca. 1949, KVN.
30. Klára von Neumann, Johnny.
31. Ibid.
32. John von Neumann and Oswald Veblen to Frank Aydelotte, March 23, 1940, IAS.
33. Ibid.
34. Klára von Neumann, Johnny.
35. John von Neumann to Stanislaw Ulam, April 2, 1942, VNLC; John von Neumann to Clara [Klára] von Neumann, April 13, 1943, KVN; S. W. Hubbel [Office of Censorship] to Clara [Klára] von Neumann, April 13, 1943, IAS.
36. Klára von Neumann, Johnny.
37. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, May 8, 1945, KVN; John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, May 11, 1945, KVN.
38. Nicholas Metropolis, “The MANIAC,” in Metropolis, Howlett, and Rota, eds., A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, p. 459; Edward Teller to John von Neumann, August 9, 1945, IAS.
39. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, October 4, 1946, KVN.
40. Klára von Neumann, Johnny.
41. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, December 15, 1945, KVN.
42. Klára von Neumann, The Computer.
43. James Pomerene, interview with Nancy Stern.
44. John von Neumann, Memo to Colonel L. E. Simon, Ballistic Research Laboratory, on Mechanical Computing Devices, January 30, 1945, VNLC.
45. John von Neumann to Carson Mark, March 13, 1948, VNLC.
46. Stanislaw Ulam, 1983, in Roger Eckhardt, “Stan Ulam, John von Neumann, and the Monte Carlo Method,” in “Stanislaw Ulam, 1909–1984,” Los Alamos Science 15, Special Issue (1987): 125.
47. Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician, p. 197; Stanislaw Ulam, “Random Processes and Transformations,” in Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, Cambridge, Mass., August 3–September 6, 1950, vol. 2 (Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1952), p. 266.
48. Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician, p. 197.
49. Ibid.
50. Marshall Rosenbluth, “Genesis of the Monte Carlo Algorithm for Statistical Mechanics,” talk at Los Alamos National Laboratory, June 9, 2003 (draft courtesy of Marshall Rosenbluth).
51. Andrew W. Marshall, “An Introductory Note (on Monte Carlo Method),” in Herbert A. Meyer, ed., Symposium on Monte Carlo Methods, March 16 and 17, 1954, Held at the University of Florida, Sponsored by the Wright Air Development Center of the U
.S. Air Force Air Research and Development Command (New York: Wiley, 1956), p. 14.
52. Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician, p. 199; ibid.; Richtmyer, “People Don’t Do Arithmetic”; Stanislaw Ulam, Testimony, United States District Court, District of Minnesota, Fourth Division, 4-67 Civil 138: Honeywell, Inc., Plaintiff, v. Sperry Rand Corporation and Illinois Scientific Developments, Inc., Defendants, Transcript of Proceedings, vol. 47, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tuesday, September 7, 1971, pp. 7427–28.
53. John von Neumann to Robert Richtmyer, March 11, 1947, in Stanislaw Ulam, “Statistical Methods in Neutron Diffusion,” LAMS-551 (Los Alamos, N.M: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, April 9, 1947), p. 13; John von Neumann to Robert Richtmyer, March 11, 1947, in Ulam, “Statistical Methods in Neutron Diffusion,” p. 6.
54. John von Neumann to Norris Bradbury, July 18, 1950, LANL archives, B-9 Files, Folder 635, Drawer 181, quoted in Anne Fitzpatrick, Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942–1952, LA-13577-T (Los Alamos, N.M.: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1999), p. 148.
55. Richard F. Clippinger, “A Logical Coding System Applied to the ENIAC,” BRL report 673, Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, September 29, 1948.
56. Herman H. Goldstine to General Leslie R. Groves, Remington Rand Incorporated, Laboratory of Advanced Research, June 14, 1949, VNLC.
57. John and Klára von Neumann, “Actual Technique: The Use of the ENIAC,” MS, n.d., ca. 1947, VNLC; Robert D. Richtmyer, “The Post-War Computer Development,” American Mathematical Monthly 72, no. 2, part 2: Computers and Computing (February 1965): 11.
58. Eckert, “The ENIAC,” p. 529.
59. Eckert, “The ENIAC,” p. 529; Metropolis, “The MANIAC,” p. 459.
60. Metropolis, “The MANIAC,” p. 459.
61. Harris Mayer, interview with author, April 14, 2006, GBD; Harris Mayer, interview with author, May 13, 2011, GBD.
62. Klára von Neumann to Françoise and Stan Ulam, n.d., March 1948, SUAPS; Stanislaw Ulam to John von Neumann, May 12, 1948, SUAPS.
63. John von Neumann to Stanislaw Ulam, May 11, 1948, SFU.
64. John von Neumann to Klára von Neumann, December 7, 1948, KVN.
65. John and Klára von Neumann, “Actual Technique.”