[Deathwatch] Herman H. Goldstine, mathematician, 90

[Deathwatch Central]

Computer Developer Herman Goldstine Dies
Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Herman H. Goldstine, 90, a mathematician who played a key role in early
development of the electronic digital computer during World War II,
died June 16 at a retirement community in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He had
Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Goldstine, who later worked at IBM, wrote "The Computer From Pascal
to von Neumann" (1972), a highly readable account of the history of
mathematics and the way it influenced the development of computer
science.

During World War II, Dr. Goldstine worked for the Army's Ordnance
Department, which had an interest in developing faster and more
accurate artillery and bombing tables.

Assigned to the Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Md.,
he began persuading Army officials to invest money in a computer
project underway at the University of Pennsylvania engineering school.
Dr. Goldstine became the Army's liaison to the project, which was being
led by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.

The result, presented Valentine's Day 1946, was ENIAC, short for
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.

It was the first electronic digital computer and an unwieldy device --
18,000 vacuum tubes, filling a room 30 feet by 50 feet and using 150
kilowatts of power. "It was like fighting the Battle of the Bulge to
keep it running daily," Dr. Goldstine later said.

The ENIAC could store 20 numbers of 10 digits each in its electronic
memory and was a milestone in general-purpose computing. It impressed
many at the time by performing rapid digital processing.

Besides his supervisory role, Dr. Goldstine was credited with some of
the mathematical underpinnings of the ENIAC. He also said he had a
major role in bringing Johnny von Neumann to the ENIAC project after
seeing him one day in 1944 at the Aberdeen train station and persuading
the math giant to visit Penn.

At the time, von Neumann was attending a scientific advisory committee
meeting at the Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. He was intrigued
by high-speed devices that would help with his work on the atom bomb at
Los Alamos, N.M. Many of the difficult calculations for the first atom
bomb were made with electronic calculators that were essentially office
machines.

"Fortunately for me, von Neumann was a warm, friendly person who did
his best to make people feel relaxed in his presence," Mr. Goldstine
wrote in his 1972 book.

"The conversation soon turned to my work," he wrote. "When it became
clear to von Neumann that I was concerned with the development of an
electronic computer capable of 333 multiplications per second, the
whole atmosphere of our conversation changed from one of relaxed good
humor to one more like the oral examination of the doctor's degree in
mathematics.