BUZZ BOX: When Ph.D.s need a job outside the ivory tower

In response to: Ending the stigma of jobs outside academia for Ph.D.s

Published in the June 6, 2012 issue

Alumni posted comments at PAW Online on an April 4 Campus Notebook story about ending the stigma for jobs outside academia for Ph.D.s in the human­i­ties, often considered a “Plan B.” GLORIA ERLICH *77 wrote that she had found a satisfying career as an independent scholar,...

The idea of the computer

In response to: Daybreak of the Digital Age

By BILL CLARKSON ’58

Published in the June 6, 2012 issue

The MANIAC computer — I remember it well (feature, April 4)! In the spring of 1958 a classmate, Ned Irons ’58, and I did our senior project (engineering students’ equivalent of a thesis) on that computer, the only computer in Princeton. The task was programming an interpreter...

The idea of the computer

In response to: Daybreak of the Digital Age

By JERRY PORTER ’58

Published in the June 6, 2012 issue

During my senior year (1957–58), I managed a group of Princeton students who were the night operators on the Institute machine. Night meant something like 5 to 11 p.m. The computer had 40 CRTs for memory, and we had an oscilloscope that could tune in on the 32-by-32-bit grid...

The idea of the computer

In response to: Daybreak of the Digital Age

By JOSH DRANOFF *56 *60

Published in the June 6, 2012 issue

As a grad student in the mid-1950s, I was fortunate to have access to the MANIAC computer as part of my thesis research. This excellent article brought back many fond memories.

The idea of the computer

In response to: Daybreak of the Digital Age

By HOWARD ROBBINS ’57

Published in the June 6, 2012 issue

I was one of half-dozen or so juniors and seniors who actually wrote and ran little programs for this machine. There was, of course, no such thing as programming or computer science classes back then, nor high-level languages or even assembler language — the programs were in...