Bit by Bit

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  • Bit by Bit
    • Front Matter
      • Preface
      • Table of Contents
      • Title Pages
    • Chapter One
      • 1.1 Introduction
      • 1.2 From the abacus to Hindu-Arabic numerals
      • 1.3 Napier’s logs and Napier’s rods
      • 1.4 The slide rule
      • 1.5 Digital vs. Analog
      • 1.6 Shickard’s Calculating Clock
      • 1.7 Pascal and the Pascaline
      • 1.8 Leibniz and the Stepped Reckoner
      • 1.9 The Binary System
      • Reference
    • Chapter Two
      • 2.1 The Arithmometer and numerical tables
      • 2.2 The theory behind the Difference Engine
      • 2.3 Babbage’s Early Life
      • 2.4 The Difference Engine
      • 2.5 The Difference Engine’s machinery
      • 2.6 The Scheutzes’ Tabulating Machine
      • 2.7 The Analytical Engine
      • 2.8 The Analytical Engine’s machinery
      • 2.9 Babbage’s Later Life
      • Reference
    • Chapter Three
      • 3.1 Hollerith’s punchcard machine
      • 3.2 Hollerith and the Census
      • 3.3 Mechanical calculators
      • 3.4 Differential Analyzer Machines
      • 3.5 Zuse and Boolean Logic
      • 3.6 Zuse’s program-controlled calculators
      • 3.7 The Z-4 machine
      • Reference
    • Chapter Four
      • 4.1 Stibitz calculators at Bell Labs
      • 4.2 Aiken and the Mark I
      • 4.3 The Ballistics Research Laboratory and Firing Tables
      • 4.4 Mauchly’s Memo
      • 4.5 The electronic calculator
      • 4.6 The Atanasoff-Berry Computer
      • 4.7 Mauchly and Eckert at the Moore School
      • 4.8 Project PX and the ENIAC
      • 4.9 ENIAC’s hydrogen bomb calculations
      • Reference
    • Chapter Five
      • 5.1 Stored-program computing
      • 5.2 John von Neumann and the “Report on the EDVAC”
      • 5.3 Turing and the Turing Machine
      • 5.4 Logic theory and Hilbert’s decision problem
      • 5.5 Breaking the Enigma Machine
      • 5.6 Postwar developments in British computers
      • 5.7 Patent Quarrel at the Moore School
      • 5.8 The IAS computer
      • 5.9 UNIVAC, Part I: Development
      • 5.10 UNIVAC, Part II: Commercialization
      • Reference
    • Chapter Six
      • 6.1 Overview of IBM
      • 6.2 Watson and the National Cash Register Company
      • 6.3 The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR)
      • 6.4 From CTR to IBM, Part I
      • 6.5 From CTR to IBM, Part II
      • 6.6 The Rise of IBM
      • 6.7 Watson, Jr.
      • 6.8 Building the first IBM computers
      • Reference
    • Chapter Seven
      • 7.1 Flight Simulators
      • 7.2 The Whirlwind Project
      • 7.3 SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground-Environment Computers)
      • 7.4 IBM 650
      • 7.5 Assembly Language Programming
      • 7.6 FORTRAN compiler
      • 7.7 UNIVAC falls to IBM
      • 7.8 The Honeywell-Sperry Case
      • Reference
    • Chapter Eight
      • 8.1 Early research in electronics
      • 8.2 The point-contact transistor
      • 8.3 Miniaturization and standardization
      • 8.4 Kilby comes to TI
      • 8.5 Kilby’s integrated circuit
      • 8.6 Noyce’s integrated circuit
      • 8.7 Commercial development of the IC
      • Reference
    • Chapter Nine
      • 9.1 Computer Usability Problems
      • 9.2 Olsen, DEC, and the Microcomputer
      • 9.3 Intel is born
      • 9.4 Development of the microprocessor
      • 9.5 Ahl advocates for the personal computer
      • 9.6 Titus and the Mark-8
      • 9.7 Roberts and MITS
      • 9.8 The Altair 8800
      • 9.9 Apple
      • Reference
    • End Matter
      • Acknowledgments
      • Appendix: The FBI Dossier of John William Mauchly
      • Chronology of the History of Computers
      • Epilogue: The Lesson of History
    • Index
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • Y
      • Z
  • Resources
    • Chapter 1
      • Abacus
      • Antikythera Mechanism
      • Binary System
      • Digital vs. Analog
      • Hindu-Arabic Numerals
      • Leibniz and the Stepped Reckoner
      • Logarithms
      • Napier’s Bones
      • Pascal’s Pascaline
      • Roman Numerals
      • Schickard and the Calculating Clock
      • Slide Rules
    • Chapter 2
      • Analytical Engine
      • Arithmometer
      • Babbage
      • Difference Engine
      • Jacquard’s Loom
      • Lovelace
      • Scheutzes’ Tabulating Machine
    • Chapter 3
      • Boolean Logic
      • Bush and the Differential Analyzer
      • Hollerith and the Census
      • Kelvin and the Tide Predictor
      • Mechanical Calculators
      • Memex
      • Z4 Machine
      • Zuse and the Z Computers
    • Chapter 4
      • Aiken and Mark I
      • Atanasoff, Berry, and the ABC
      • Ballistics Research Labs
      • Eckert and Mauchly
      • ENIAC
      • Female ENIAC Programmers
      • Human Computers
      • Moore School and Aberdeen Proving Ground
      • Stibitz and Bell Labs
      • Vacuum Tubes
    • Chapter 5
      • EDSAC
      • EDVAC
      • Enigma Machine
      • Hilbert’s Decision Problem
      • IAS Parallel Processor Machine
      • Patent Quarrel at the Moore School
      • SSEM (Baby) and the Manchester Mark I
      • Turing and the Turing Machine
      • UNIVAC
      • von Neumann
    • Chapter 6
      • IBM 603
      • IBM 701
      • IBM and Nazi Germany
      • Rise of IBM
      • SSEC
      • Watson Jr.
      • Watson Sr. and the Early Days of IBM
    • Chapter 7
      • Assembly Language Programming
      • BASIC
      • COBOL
      • Core Memory
      • FORTRAN
      • Honeywell-Sperry Suit
      • Hopper and the Compiler
      • IBM 650
      • IBM Wins the Industry
      • SAGE
      • Whirlwind Project
    • Chapter 8
      • Circuit Board
      • Commercial Development of the IC
      • IBM System/360
      • Integrated Circuit
      • Kilby and his IC
      • Moore’s Law
      • Noyce and his IC
      • RAM
      • Semiconductors
      • Transistor
    • Chapter 9
      • Apple II
      • Gates and Microsoft
      • Homebrew Computer Club
      • IBM PC
      • Intel and Microprocessors
      • Jobs, Woz, and Apple Computers
      • MITS and the Altair 8800
      • Olson, DEC, and the Minicomputer
      • Other Early PCs
      • Time-Sharing
      • Titus and the Mark-8
    • Print Resources
      • A History of Computing Technology
      • A History of Modern Computing
      • Computer: a history of the information machine
      • Computing: A Human Activity
  • History of Computing Slides
  • Labs
  • About this site

Watson Jr.

Websites

As an introduction to this topic, read the 1987 Fortune article, “The Greatest Capitalist in History.”

For a more detailed history, listen to the online oral history interview with Watson Jr. hosted by University of Minnesota’s Charles Babbage Institute.

Check out IBM’s extensive “reference room” on Thomas J. Watson, Jr. It mostly consists of writings by and about Watson, but also includes multimedia.

A course resource for the History of Mechanized Thought

Tags

Abacus Altair 8800 Analog Analytical Engine Antikythera Mechanism Apple Computer babbage Binary Blaise Pascal Bush Calculating Clock Census CTR Corporation difference engine Digital Eckert ENIAC Harvard Mark I Hindu-Arabic Numerals Hollerith IBM IBM PC Integrated Circuit Intel Kilby Leibniz Logarithms Mauchly Moore School Napier's Rods Noyce Oughtred Pascaline Personal Computer Roman Numerals Schickard Slide rule Stepped Reckoner Transistor Turing UNIVAC von Neumann Watson Sr. Whirlwind Zuse
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