Briefly Now, More Later

Abstract

I think I can best let Vince Rideout tell it for himself: "When I was a new assistant professor (about 1948) in the EE Department of the University of Wisconsin, struggling to introduce our first auto matic control course, my chairman, Harold A. Peterson, got me interested in the idea of using some of the new electronic analog computers in connection with this work. We purchased some Philbrick 'boxes,' and have been simulating ever since. During the summer of 1951 I worked for Boeing in Seattle and got some further familiarity with the use of analog computers there, and even more as a consultant for Allis Chalmers from 1956 on. In 1954 when I went to Bangalore.. India for a year at the Indian Institute of Science, I took along some plug-in op-amps., etc. and built India's first analog computer there. About 1964 I began to work on cardiovascular system simulation, and continue to do so. Also, about 1965 I was instrumental in getting a large hybrid instal lation at Wisconsin, and was director of our hybrid laboratory until 1972, when I left to become depart ment chairman. Since leaving the chairmanship a year ago, I have become interested in two new fields of research-array computer design and large-scale socioeconomic modeling."