A Quantum Leap in Computing Etymology

Computational devices have been employed by humans for thousands of years to aid in a variety of activities. The invention of the abacus likely occurred in Sumeria around 2700 to 2300 B.C.E., which used a base 60 system, but the oldest known example of an abacus is the Salamis Tablet from Greece (300 B.C.E.) [Samoly, K., History of the Abacus, Ohio Journal of School Mathematics, N. 65, Spring, 2012, p. 58]. We have evidence of geared computational devices such as the Antikythera Mechanism dating to about 87 B.C.E. [Price, Derek de Solla, Gears from the Greeks. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society N.S. 64, no. 7. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1974]. 

However, a review of the Third Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) [Oxford English Dictionary, August 2024, [www.oed.com/dictionary/computer-n?tab=meaning_and_use#861811 1] states that the word ‘computer’ was first recorded as used in the year 1613 by Richard Braithwaite with the meaning “One who computes; a calculator, reckoner; spec. a person employed to make calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc.” [Bold Italics added for emphasis]. 

According to the same OED entry [ibid.] the first use of the word ‘computer’ to refer to a device to perform computations, as opposed to a person, was in 1869 in a novel by M. Harland, in Pemie's Temptation. In this work, Harland refers to a "patent computer". The use of the word 'patent' as an adjective in this context, clearly, has the meaning “easily recognizable; obvious” and was not referring to a mechanical device. This is similar to the use of the term “patently false” with the meaning of “obviously false”. Therefore, the term ‘patent computer’ was being used with the meaning of “a person exhibiting the characteristics of a professional computer” (i.e., a person). Hence, this use of the word “computer” in 1869 was not referring to a machine at all! 

Furthermore, there is no evidence whatsoever that anyone else picked up on this sense of the word as a ‘mechanical computational device’ until William Cox did in the 1890s, more than twenty years later. Of course, the OED [ibid.] also references an appearance of the word ‘computer’ on 22 January 1897, in Engineering [Note: A London, UK Publicaton] 104/2, quoting, “This was a computer made by Mr. W. Cox. He described it as of the nature of a circular slide rule.” Thus, according to the OED, William Cox was the neologist who used the term ‘computer’ when referring to a device that performed computation on that date. 

However, the evidence is now clear that the OED was also incorrect by at least five years here.  As far as we now know, William Cox named his circular computing devices ‘computers’ in 1892 for his “Electric Wire Computer” [in The Electrical Engineer, Aug. 10, 1892, p. 139], and we also know that he registered his company “Cox Computer Company” in New Jersey, US in 1893, specifically for manufacturing and selling devices that perform computations of various types in a similar manner. 

Of note, in 1891 he describes these devices as “calculators,” so, it is safe to assume that the first year of use of the term 'computer' by Cox was in 1892. Hence, we conclude that William Cox is the pioneer of the term ‘computer’ in referring to a device that performs computations, and that he did so as early as 1892.

We additionally note that in 1895, “The Cox Computer Company has recently been organized for the purpose of manufacturing and introducing the various forms of mechanical computers designed by Mr. William Cox of Stapleton, N.Y., where the company will have its headquarters until removal to New York City. [Note: This refers to the registration of the company in New York State as a foreign entity two years after his registration in New Jersey.] The scale upon which operations will be conducted and the number of new applications that will be made, such as power transmissions of belting, gears, etc. is said by the parties to warrant a material reduction in price and choice of style and material. A circular has been issued announcing these innovations.” [Progressive Age, Vol. 13, no. 23, Dec. 2, 1895, p. 583, Progressive Publishing, New York. google.com/books/edition/Gas_Age/dPI9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 &dq=%22progressive+age%22+computer+1895&pg=PA583&printsec =frontcover]. 

Cox’s groundbreaking innovations have had a profound and lasting impact on technology. While Cox was not the first to make a device that computed mathematical functions, nor the first to try to come up with a term to describe a device that does mathematical computation, his terminology is the one that has endured to this day. 

Other examples of attempted naming of such devices during the 19th Century were: 

•  In 1822 and again in 1837 Charles Babbage devised, first, the Difference Engine, and then the Analytical Engine. 
•  In 1857 Orlando L. Castle and Thomas Hill developed devices they called an Arithmometer. 
•  From the 1850s to the 1870s there were many inventions called Computing or Calculating Machines by Parmalee, Smith, Alexander, Rowland, Davies, Mendenhall, Groesbeck, Grant, Robjack, Spaulding, and Baldwin, to mention a few. 
•  In 1880 Herman Hollerith devised the Tabulator which was eventually used to perform the 1890 census and evolved after the turn of the century into the IBM Corp. 
•  In 1884 the French engineer Philbert Maurice d'Ocagne (1862–1928) devised a graphical calculating device that was called either a nomograph, alignment chart, or abac. These devices were two-dimensional diagrams designed to allow the approximate graphical computation of a mathematical function. 
•  In 1887 Dorr Felt, filed a patent for the Comptometer, the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator. The success of the Comptometer caused others to call their computational devices “comptometers”, much like the term "Xerox" is used for a copier. 
•  In 1892, Walter Hart published a book "The Equationor or the Universal Calculator" within which he describes a circular slide rule to perform computations. 

Yet, the term to describe automated devices that perform computations is ‘computer’, the term coined by Cox. This fact, in no way, detracts from the contributions of other early computer pioneers, including Turing and von Neumann. 

It is curious to note that in the mammoth undertaking by Herman Goldstine in his book “The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann” [Goldstine, Herman, The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann, Princeton University Press, 1972, 378pp.] there is only a passing, one-line reference to William Oughtred for inventing the slide rule on page 4, and no mention, whatsoever, of William Cox, who coined the term ‘computer’ itself! So, to all those interested in the history of computers, while you might have thought that it had been 127 years since the computer was invented, you can be rest assured that, as of today, the computer is really five years older -- 132 years! A quantum leap, indeed!

February 6, 2024 Marks 220 Years Since the Death of Joseph Priestley

We last visited the gravesite of Joseph Priestley in Northumberland, PA, on February 6, 2004, on the commemoration of the 200 years since his death.
If you're interested to see the post on the event click here.

The John Proctor Sundial of 1644

Photograph Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum In May 1907, the Essex Institute of Salem, Massachusetts reported that they had received a sundial as a gift from Abel Proctor, formerly belonging to one of his ancestors, John Proctor, the witchcraft victim (Salem Witchcraft Trials, 1692).   This is an example of one of the earliest known American sundials.

John Proctor lived with his wife Elizabeth in what is now Peabody,  Massachusetts. They were respected farmers and keepers of a  tavern. Mary Warren, one of the "afflicted girls" of Salem Village  was a servant in the Proctor household. Early in 1692, Proctor  had been an outspoken critic of the witchcraft proceedings and  of the antics of the Village girls. He and his wife were accused of  witchcraft and sent to prison. Both were convicted of witchcraft,  and John was hanged on August 19. Elizabeth, who was found to  be pregnant, was spared execution and outlived the 1692 hysteria.  The story of the Proctors was later made famous by Arthur Miller in  his play "The Crucible." The "Proctor" sundial is 12 inches to the side, and the gnomon  reaches 6 inches above the dial at its highest point.  It is inscribed  with the date "1644". In 1995 I decided to make a reproduction of this sundial with some  notable changes.  First, since I had every intention of using the  sundial and I wanted to use it in a vertical position, I reversed the  order of the numerals, with progressing time going from the right  side counterclockwise to the left.  Next, I decided to make a more  elaborate gnomon.  The final change that I made was I adjusted the  spacing of the hour marks for the latitude where it was intended to  be used.  I also did not puncture the surface for the mounting rivets.  The image below is the reproduction Proctor Sun Dial that I made.  It is in my garden.

Sahasra Purna Chandrodayam and Other Celebrations of the 80th Year

In Sandskrit sahasra means 1000, purna means full, and chandrodayam means dawn of moon.  Sahasra Purna Chandrodayam is a special occasion and celebration organized for an elderly member of the family who has witnessed 1000 full moon days during their lifetime. This is a Hindu custom in India. The 1000th full moon of a person's life occurs when they are approximately 80 years and 9 months old.  The celebration is meant to provide mental and physical strength to a person in their old age and to encourage them to pursue spiritual liberation from all problems in this life.

I hope to celebrate my Sahasra Purna Chandrodayam on December 21, 2024. This particular date also happens to be the date of the Winter Solstice.  The day when the sun rises the least in the sky during the year. I will be also, therefore, celebrating my 80th Winter Solstice.

In Japan, Sanju, a person's 80th birthday, is so called because the character “san” (傘) contains the characters for eight (八) and ten (十). Both sanju and beiju (88) are celebrated by wearing gold, giving thanks, and wishing for more happy years for the person. I have already celebrated Sanju.

HMS Rose

The Frigate HMS ROSE reproduction (courtesy of Fine Model Ships)

In 1969, shortly after our honeymoon in Mexico, my wife and I traveled with our 1967 Volvo from Central Illinois to Nova Scotia, Canada, on an extended vacation.  We had our 1949 Grumman aluminum canoe mounted on the car's roof rack and traveled the full extent of Nova Scotia from the Cape Bretton Highlands Provincial Park in the North, through most of the coastal ocean communities on the Southeastern side of the peninsula, through Halifax, where the Commonwealth Games were being celebrated, and then further Southeast through Lunenburg and out to Oak Island, and then over to the Port-Royal National Historic Site on the Bay of Fundy and many other places in between.

It was while we were in Lunenburg that we first encountered the construction of the reproduction of the Frigate HMS Rose at the Smith and Rhuland shipyard located there.  The original HMS Rose was a 20 gun frigate of the British Navy, built in Hull, England in 1757. She served in the Channel, the Caribbean, and in North America.  Her activities in suppressing smuggling in the colony of Rhode Island provoked the formation of what became the Continental Navy, the precursor of the modern United States Navy. She was based at the North American station in the West Indies and then used by the British in the American Revolutionary War. She was scuttled in the harbor of Savannah, Georgia in 1779.

The replica of the HMS Rose we saw under construction in 1969 was built based upon the original British Admiralty plans with some modifications to make her handle better, and she launched from Lunenberg in 1970. She was used for display and sail training until about 1984. Thereafter, she was sold and her homeport was moved to Captain's Cove in Bridgeport, CT, in anticipation of her use in the Operation Tall Ships as part of the 1976 United States Bicentennial Celebration, and displayed as a museum ship and used for sail training. I encountered her again at her Captain's Cove berth and toured her for the first time shortly after she arrived at Captain's Cove.  In 2001 she was purchased by 20th Century Fox Studios and sailed to San Diego, CA, where she was refitted as a reproduction of the HMS Surprise and was used to make two movies: “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World” starring Russell Crowe, and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

In 2007, she was sold to the San Diego Maritime Museum and reconstructed and used for sailing.

The 250th Anniversary of the discovery of Oxygen

 

Dr. Sliderule at Joseph Priestley's Laboratory at Bowood House,

the site of the isolation of the gas element Oxygen by Priestley

on August 1, 1774

On August 1, 2024, we will celebrate a momentous event in the history of science, the 250th Anniversary of the isolation of the element Oxygen.

Joseph Priestley was in the laboratory he had constructed at Bowood House in Wiltshire, England on August 1, 1774.  He was the librarian and tutor for the Earl of Shelburne. Priestley, a Unitarian Minister and polymath was already well known for his scientific and other scholarly work in many diverse disciplines.

 
However, Priestley’s most important and lasting contribution to science is based upon the discovery he made on this date at this location when he obtained a colorless gas by heating red mercuric oxide. He found that a candle would burn and that a mouse would thrive in this gas in a closed container.  He called it “dephlogisticated air,” based upon the belief that ordinary air became saturated with phlogiston once it could no longer support combustion and life.  The phlogiston theory was originally postulated by the German chemist, Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734), and has subsequently been discredited.

The following October, Priestley accompanied his patron, Lord Shelburne, on a tour through Belgium, Holland, Germany, and France, when in Paris Priestley informed the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier how he obtained the new “air.” This meeting between the two scientists was highly significant for the future of chemistry. Lavoisier immediately repeated Priestley’s experiments and, between 1775 and 1780, conducted intensive investigations from which he derived the elementary nature of oxygen, recognized it as the “active” principle in the atmosphere, interpreted its role in combustion and respiration, and gave it its name. Lavoisier’s pronouncements of the activity of oxygen revolutionized chemistry.

To see a video on this subject see this link.

Joseph Priestley Online

 I have to let everyone out there who is interested in scholarly research of Joseph Priestley know that I have discovered a website that has almost everything you might want to know about where to find out something about Joseph Priestley, whether it be a work written by Joseph Priestley or a work written about him.  And, wherever possible, a link to an online version of the reference is also given.  The site is named Joseph Priestley Online. and can be found at JosephPriestley.org.  The site has been organized by and is maintained by Andrew Burd-Harris.

This site is a work in progress. Obviously, as new works are written about Priestley, they will be added to the compilation, and for the occasional omission of a past work that is discovered, it will also be added.

Thank you for all your hard work, Andrew!