Programming Men and Machines. Changing Organisation in the Artillery Computations at Aberdeen Proving Ground (1916-1946)

Abstract

Abstract After the First World War mathematics and the organisation of ballistic computations at Aberdeen Proving Ground changed considerably. This was the basis for the development of a number of computing aids that were constructed and used during the years 1920 to 1950. This article looks how the computational organisation forms and changes the instruments of calculation. After the differential analyzer relay-based machines were built by Bell Labs and, finally, the ENIAC, one of the first electronic computers, was built, to satisfy the need for computational power in ballistics during the second World War.