Clair D. Lake is best known as the IBM project director who helped build (some would say co-invented) the Harvard Mark I computer, also known as the ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator). At the time it was unveiled in 1944, it was hailed as ?the world?s greatest mathematical calculator.? But unlike calculators that lacked memory, the Mark I was capable of operating automatically using pre-programmed instructions. At present, it is regarded as the first of the modern computers. Lake was also responsible for designing the standard computer punch card used in data processing.
Frank E. Hamilton, Clair D. Lake等
Lake was born in 1888 and entered a manual training school after completing the eighth grade. He pursued a career designing automobile parts. In 1915, he went to work for Thomas Watson Sr., head of the CTR (Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corporation) to help design and build a tabulating machine. (CTR would later become IBM.)
Lake distinguished himself for innovations and refinements of tabulating equipment and was made superintendent of the tabulating product line. In 1928, he developed the 80-column IBM card, which was eventually adopted as the standard for data processing. In the 1930s, he led development of tabulating equipment for the new Social Security Administration to keep records and print checks, a contract that secured IBM?s position as a corporate leader.
In the 1930s, Lake worked with Columbia University?s Wallace Eckert at the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau to build an electromagnetic calculator, which used punched cards to perform high-speed, complex mathematical calculations in the study of astronomy. News of the device spread, and Howard H. Aiken, a Harvard doctoral student in physics, met with Eckert and Lake. Aiken wanted to make a calculator that could retain mathematical rules in its memory and not require reprogramming for each new set of problems. In 1938, Watson agreed to finance the project, and the computer was built at IBM?s Endicott, N.Y., facility, where Aiken collaborated with Lake and his engineering staff, namely James Bryce, Francis Hamilton, and Benjamin Durfee.
War delayed work on the Mark I, which was completed in 1943. At its 1944 unveiling, Aiken took sole credit for the invention, mentioning IBM only incidentally. Controversy over who deserved credit and how much has raged since. What is known is that Aiken conceived the machine?s design, and Lake and his staff interpreted and enhanced the design, invented components, and assembled the machine.
Despite being snubbed, the experience proved invaluable to Lake and IBM. Lake continued to work on high-speed calculators and other devices, and IBM went on to assume a major role in the computer industry.
艾肯1900年3月8日出生在美国新泽西州的霍伯。肯(Hoboken,N.J.),但在印第安那州首府印第安纳波里斯(Indianapolis, Indiana)长大。由于艾肯的家是一个单亲家庭,家境清贫,他高中就读于一所名为“阿森纳”的职高(Arsenal Technical High School),白天上学,晚上在当地一家供电和供热的公司上12个小时的夜班,负责操作开关板。后来,职高校长知道了他的情况,就专门安排了一些考试,让艾肯通过后提前毕业。毕业以后,艾肯来到威斯康辛州首府麦迪逊,在麦迪逊煤气和电力公司(Madison Gas & Electric Co.)找到一份工作,这份工作允许他同时在威斯康辛大学上学。1923年,艾肯大学毕业,取得电气工程学士学位,并立即被提升为公司的总工程师。 1928年,他离开原公司到西屋电气和制造公司,3年以后又转到密尔沃基的线材公司(Milwaukee Line Material Co.)。1933年,艾肯感到干电气这一行是选错了专业,于是下决心辞掉了工作,重返校园学习物理,这时他已33岁。艾肯先进了芝加哥大学,但很快转至哈佛大学,1937年和1939年先后取得硕土和博土学位。艾肯的博士论文课题是“空间电荷传导的理论”(Theory of Space Charge Conduction)。这一课题的研究需要对非线性微分方程进行复杂的计算,而艾肯手头只有手摇台式计算机可用,常常为解一个方程而耗费大量时间,这导致他产生了研制自动计算机的想法。在深入研究了计算技术的先驱、英国数学家巴贝奇(Charles Babbage,1791—1871)工作的基础上,1937年艾肯提出了自动计算机的第一份建议书,即著名的文献“Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine”。在这份长达22页、而且是双面打印的文件中,艾肯提出了他的设计目标,也就是后来被称为Mark I的计算机的四个特征:
Mark I主要供海军舰船局(Bureau of Ships)用于计算弹道和编制射击表,也曾在曼哈顿计划中计算有关原子弹的问题。此外,它也为哈佛大学内外的科学家服务。例如,哈佛大学经济系的著名教授列昂杰夫(Wassily Leontief)在研究输入—输出分析中就曾用Mark I解各种线性方程问题。1949年,哈佛大学的计算实验室(这是1946年艾肯正式从海军退役重回哈佛大学后创建的,艾肯任主任直至他退休)年报,即著名的Annals of the Computation Laboratory of Harvard University,公布了19个数学表,都是Mark I的成果。尤其是在贝塞尔函数(Bessel Function)的计算上,Mark I发挥了巨大的作用,因此哈佛大学的数学家给Mark I起了一个亲切的称呼,叫做“贝茜”(Bessie)。1944年10月14日American Weekly周刊在报导Mark I时,把Mark I称做“超级大脑”(super brain),说它能解物理、数学、原子结构等方面的各种问题,并且夸张地说,也许它还能解决人类起源这一难题。
艾肯的著作不多,1951年他和他的同事编写出版了《电子计算和控制电路的综合》(Synthesis of Electronic Computing and Control Circuits)一书,是这方面的第一本专著。但由艾肯主编、由哈佛大学出版社出版的30卷《计算实验室年报》(Annals of Computation Laboratory)则是艾肯留下的极为珍贵的财富,其中包括详细介绍和描述Mark I—MarkⅣ的3卷年报,有关大型数字计算机和开关理论的4卷会议录,以及23卷的各种数学表。此外,艾肯还向海军舰船局、原子能委员会、空军、贝尔电话实验室、美国自然科学基金会NSF、美国煤气协会和爱迪生电气学会等递交过大量有关的技术报告,总数达到140卷,其数量之多、内容之丰富和深刻令人叹为观止。
艾肯获得的荣誉与奖励很多。IEEE除了授予他计算机先驱奖外,还曾授予他John Prize奖和爱迪生奖。富兰克林学会授予他John Prize奖。海军授予他“杰出公众服务奖”(Distinguished Public Service Award),空军则授予他“特等公民服务勋章”(Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service)。他的母校威斯康辛大学授予他“杰出专业服务奖”(Testimonial of Eminent Professional Services)。法国和比利时政府也都授予艾肯以该国公民的最高荣誉称号或奖励(法国是Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur,比利时是Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Crown)。艾肯是美国艺术和科学院院士,也是美国研究院NSC在1946年建立的高速计算机委员会的首批成员之一。此外,他还是西班牙和瑞典的国家级学术机构的名誉顾问或外籍院士。