| Popis: |
Shell’s Amsterdam Laboratory was the first organisation in the world to purchase a computer as a commercial venture, without direct or indirect government support. Shell’s energetic and innovative computing activities are described, enlivened by the personal memories and photographs of those who were involved. The Mark I* computer was named MIRACLE by Shell. MIRACLE stood for Mokum’s Industrial Research Automatic Calculator for Laboratory and Engineering, Mokum being a Yiddish word for ‘city’ and the local name by which Amsterdam is sometimes known. Amongst the MIRACLE anecdotes is an account of the emotional final switch-off of the computer just before Christmas 1961. The novelist Gerrit Krol was present and we have his poetic observations of the assembled staff as the giant machine fell silent and the console lights went out. |
