Abstract : A challenge is presented to the usual account of the
development of the Manchester Baby which focuses on the contribution
made to the project by the topologist M.H.A. (Max) Newman and other
members of the Dept. of Mathematics. Based on an extensive
re-examination of the primary source material, it is suggested that a
very much more significant role was played by mathematicians than is
allowed for in the dominant discourse. It is shown that there was a
single computer-building project at Manchester in the years immediately
following World War II and that it was conceived, led, funded, supplied
and staffed by Newman who was supported throughout by his long-time
friend P.M.S. (Patrick) Blackett. In the course of the paper three
persistent myths, which lend support to the dominant narrative, are
identified and debunked.
https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01059593 Contributor : Hal IfipConnect in order to contact the contributor Submitted on : Monday, September 1, 2014 - 1:32:20 PM Last modification on : Friday, August 11, 2017 - 10:41:05 AM Long-term archiving on: : Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - 10:20:45 AM
David Anderson. Contested Histories: De-Mythologising the Early
History of Modern British Computing.. IFIP WG 9.7 International Conference on History of Computing (HC) / Held as Part of World Computer Congress (WCC), Sep 2010, Brisbane, Australia. pp.58-67, ⟨10.1007/978-3-642-15199-6_7⟩. ⟨hal-01059593⟩