Herman Heine Goldstine (September 13, 1913 - June 16, 2004) was an American mathematician and computer scientist who helped develop ENIAC, one of the first modern electronic digital computers, after serving as the liaison between the US Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory and the Moore School of Electrical Engineering during World War II. He later worked with John von Neumann on the EDVAC design and served as director of the IAS machine project at the Institute for Advanced Study. Goldstine joined IBM as founding director of its Mathematical Sciences Department and became an IBM Fellow, the company's highest technical distinction, in 1969. He received the National Medal of Science in 1985 and later served as executive director of the American Philosophical Society.
Facts
AwardHarry H. Goode Memorial Award 1 AwardFellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1 AwardNational Medal of Science 1 FAQs
Why did Herman Goldstine write The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann?
He wrote the 1972 history of computing mainly to highlight John von Neumann's contributions.
Goldstine published the book in 1972, and the IEEE Computer Society's pioneer biography says he wrote it primarily to highlight John von Neumann's contributions. Goldstine had worked with von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1946 to 1957, and he claimed he first told von Neumann about the ENIAC in a chance meeting on a railroad station platform in Philadelphia in the summer of 1944. The same biography adds that von Neumann, as a member of a scientific advisory committee of the Ballistic Research Laboratories, probably should already have known of the ENIAC contract, so that account is Goldstine's own claim and not an established fact.
Connections
In Field
Source IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: Herman Heine Goldstine
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikidata: Herman Goldstine
IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: Herman Heine Goldstine
IEEE Computer Society History CommitteeIn Field: Computer Architecture, Biography headerQuote, In Field: Computer Architecture, Biography header
the logical design of the JAS computer
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