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Modelling, Calculation and Analogy: The Themes of Analogue Computing | |
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Introduction: Analogue Computers in the History of Computing | |
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Analogue Computers: Another Class of Computing Technology | |
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Analogue Computers: A Challenge to Define | |
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Analogue Computing as Modelling Technology | |
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Structure of This Book | |
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Part I: Modelling, Calculation and Analogy: The Themes of Analogue Computing | |
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Part II: Analogue Computing in Use: A Selection of Contexts | |
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A Multi-Stranded Chronology of Analogue Computing | |
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Two Meanings of Analogue: The Tension Between Analogy and Continuity | |
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Towards a Chronology of Analogue Computing | |
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First Thematic Time-Line-Mechanising the Calculus: The Story of Continuous Computing Technology | |
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1814-1850: Towards the Mechanical Integrator: The Invention and Development of the Planimeter | |
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1850-1876: Maxwell, Thomson and Kelvin: The Emergence of the Integrator as a Computing Component | |
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1870-1900: The Age of the Continuous Calculating Machine | |
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1880-1920: The Integrator Becomes an Embedded Component Initiating Associations Between Control and Calculation | |
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1920-1946: The 'Heyday' of Analogue Computing? | |
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Second Thematic Time-Line-From Analogy to Computation: the Development of Electrical Modelling | |
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1845-1920: The Development of Analogy Methods | |
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1920-1946: Pre-digital Analogue Modelling | |
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Third Thematic Time-Line-Analogue Computing and the Entwining of Calculation and Modelling | |
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1940: The Emergence of Analogue Computing as a Technical Label and Class of Machine | |
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1945-1960: The Development and Stabilisation of Computer Technology | |
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1950-1965: The Commercialisation of the Analogue Computer, and the Invention of Hybrid Computing | |
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Conclusions | |
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Modelling Technology and the History of Analogue Computing | |
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Modelling: A Variety of Definitions and Associations | |
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Modelling as a Meta-Narrative for the History of Computing | |
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Support for Thinking of the Computer as a Modelling Medium | |
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Theoretical Support for a Modelling Perspective | |
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Historical Support for a Modelling Perspective | |
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Analogue Computing as a Technology of Modelling | |
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Conclusion | |
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Origins of Analogue: Conceptual Association and Entanglement | |
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The Establishment of 'Forward Analogy': Historical Influences from Electrical Theory | |
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Modelling with Electricity: Early Use of a Reverse Analogy | |
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Clifford Nickle and Vannevar Bush: Modelling with the Reverse Analogy | |
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Establishing a Modelling Medium Based on the Reverse Analogy: The Work of Nickle and Doherty | |
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Stabilising the Field: Bush's Classification Schemes and Their Enrolling Function | |
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Positive Association with Computing and Computational Rhetoric | |
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Formation of an Analogue User Culture | |
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George Philbrick and Lightning Empiricism: An Exemplar of Analogue Culture | |
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Simulation Culture and the Transition to Digital | |
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Digital Languages for Simulating Analogue Computing | |
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Dis-enrollment of Analogue Computing and the Redefinition of Analogue Culture | |
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Conclusion | |
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Analogue Computing in Use: A Selection of Contexts | |
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Analogue Computers in British Higher Education | |
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Calculation, Modelling, or Control: Three Different Uses, Three Different Histories | |
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Analogue Research at Manchester: Networks, Tanks, and Hybrid Computing | |
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Analogue Research at Imperial College: Networks and Tanks as Engineering Tools | |
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King's College London: Analogue Computing at 'Ultra-High Speed' | |
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Analogue Computing at Birmingham | |
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Analogue Computing at the University of Bath: An Example of a Technical College | |
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The Flowers Report and the Funding of Analogue Computing | |
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Conclusion | |
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Analogue Computers and Oil Reservoir Modelling | |
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Production Management and the Application of Analogue Computing | |
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Modelling Hydraulic Pressures with Electricity: William A. Bruce and the Carter Analyser | |
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Incorporating Repetitive Operation: The Reservoir Analysers Developed by the Sun Oil Company | |
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The Story of the BP Analogue Computer | |
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Outsourcing Development to EMI Electronics | |
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The BP Analyser in Use | |
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BP and the Analogue-Digital Debate | |
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Analogue-Digital Issues at the Local Level | |
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Analogue-Digital Issues at the Corporate Level | |
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Conclusion | |
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Analogue-Digital Decisions in British Aeronautical Research | |
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Analogue Computing for Aeronautics | |
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Soap Film Models as Analogue Computers | |
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The Electrolytic Tank as a Table-Top Wind Tunnel | |
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Aerodynamic Calculations, British Aircraft Designers and the ARC Computation Panel | |
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Tanks Versus Networks | |
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Deciding Between Analogue and Digital: The Case of Flutter | |
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Thirty Year Persistence: The Shortcomings of Digitalisation | |
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Conclusion | |
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The Analogue Dishpan: Physical Modelling Versus Numerical Calculation in Meteorology | |
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Computation and the History of Meteorology | |
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Non-digital Approaches to Meteorology | |
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Richardson's Forecast Factory and His Suggested Analogue Alternative | |
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Richardson: Mathematician, Experimentalist, Quaker | |
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Richardson's Rotating Fluid Experiment and the Tension Between Experiment and Mathematics | |
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Dave Fultz and the Experimental Tradition of Meteorology | |
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Conclusion | |
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Conclusion | |
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Three Principal Conclusions | |
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Multiple Perspectives of Use Informing Multiple Historical Trajectories | |
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Classifications and Social Associations in the Construction and Deconstruction of Analogue Culture | |
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Analogue-Digital Debates Were Application Based not Technologically Based | |
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Challenges for Future Scholarship in the History of Analogue Computing | |
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Concluding Remarks | |
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References | |
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Index | |