Wallace J. Eckert

Papers, 1931-1975

CBI 9

 

1.5 cubic feet in 3 boxes

Creator: Eckert, W. J. (Wallace John), 1902-1971

By: Bruce H. Bruemmer and Kevin D. Corbitt, June 1995

ACQUISITION: The records were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by Dorothy Eckert in 1983.

ACCESS: The collection is unrestricted.

COPYRIGHT: The Charles Babbage Institute holds the copyright to all materials in the collection, except for items covered by a prior copyright (such as published materials). Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Please cite the collection as follows: Wallace J. Eckert Papers (CBI 9), Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Biography

Wallace John Eckert received his Ph.D. in astronomy from Yale in 1931 and became part of the faculty at Columbia the same year. He established the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Laboratory in the early 1930s and strongly urged IBM to develop a scientific calculator. His book, Punched Card Methods in Scientific Computation (1940), influenced the development of the electronic computer. In 1940, Eckert left Columbia to become the director of the Nautical Almanac Office of the U.S. Naval Observatory. After World War II, Eckert returned to Columbia. During this period he also worked with IBM in the development of the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC). He retired from Columbia in 1967 and became an IBM Fellow.

Scope and Content

Correspondence, astronomy lecture notes, drafts of publications, research notes, and miscellaneous materials relating to Eckert's work in astronomy, celestial mechanics, and punched card systems. The collection includes a letter to G. W. Baehne of IBM regarding the development of a machine for scientific calculations (1934), correspondence relating to the operation of the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau, photographs of Eckert, and drafts of publications. The drafts represented include "The Position of the Moon Computed Directly from Brown's Theory," Punched Card Methods in Scientific Computation (1940), and Faster, Faster (1955), a book about the IBM-Naval Ordnance Research Calculator. Correspondents include L. J. Comrie and Dirk Brouwer.

Arrangement of the Collection

Index Terms

Inventory

Lecture Notes, 1951-1970

Contains lecture notes for several astronomy, celestial mechanics, and engineering courses taught by Eckert.

Publications by Eckert, undated and 1935-1967

Publications by Others, undated and 1943-1965

Research Notes, 1957-1975

Subject Files, 1931-1970

The subject files contain miscellaneous materials related to Eckert's interest in astronomy and celestial mechanics. They also contain: Eckert's personal correspondence; a history of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University; correspondence related to the International Astronomical Union; minutes, reports, photographs, and correspondence from the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau; correspondence and reports from the National Research Council's Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation subcommittee related to the journal Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation and the WPA Project for the Computation of Mathematical Tables; and a letter to G. W. Baehne of IBM regarding the development of a machine for scientific calculation.