Featured Photograph
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Image of Univac Scientific from CBI Reference Files |
In 1955, the computing company UNIVAC offered the University of Minnesota a gift of 400 hours of free use on their new computer, the (ERA) 1103. The computer assisted faculty in their research and teaching and its use was administered by the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology Computer Center. Several years later, the University purchased its own 1103 (later the Univac Scientific, pictured above in its setting at the University). The new computer, along with a REAC 100 that the University had acquired in 1949, was the centerpiece of a new University Numerical Analysis Center run by Marvin Stein, a professor in the Institute of Technology.
The University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2010. CBI Director Tom Misa, past CBI Director Robert Seidel, and three research assistants are currently writing a book-length history of the Institute, which will include a discussion of its ties to the history of computing in Minnesota.Stephanie Crowe