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Human Computers
The term "computer", in use from the early 17th century (the first known written reference dates from 1613), meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available. Alan Turing described the "human computer" as someone who is "supposed to be following fixed rules; he has no authority to deviate from them in any detail." Teams of people, often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel. The same calculations were frequently performed independently by separate teams to check the correctness of the results. Since the end of the 20th century, the term "human computer" has also been applied to individuals with prodigious powers of mental arithmetic, also known as mental calculators. Origins in sciences Astronomers in Renaissance times used that term about as often as they called them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Computers - Dryden
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, and language. Humans are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which bolster human society. Its intelligence and its desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena have motivated humanity's development of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other fields of study. Although some scientists equate the term ''humans'' with all members of the genus ''Homo'', in common usage, it generally refers to ''Homo sapiens'', the only extant member. Anatomically mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nautical Almanac
''The Nautical Almanac'' has been the familiar name for a series of official British almanacs published under various titles since the first issue of ''The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', for 1767: this was the first nautical almanac to contain data dedicated to the convenient determination of longitude at sea. It was originally published from the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England. 'ESAE 1961': Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac' ('prepared jointly by the Nautical Almanac Offices of the United Kingdom and the United States of America', HMSO, London, 1961)'ESAA 1992': ed. P.K. Seidelmann, Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac' (CA, 1992). A detailed account of how the publication was produced in its earliest years has been published by the National Maritime Museum. Since 1958 (with the issue for the year 1960), Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office and the US Naval Observator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvard Computers
The Harvard Computers was a team of women working as skilled workers to process astronomical data at the Harvard Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The team was directed by Edward Charles Pickering (1877 to 1919) and, following his death in 1919, by Annie Jump Cannon. "The women were challenged to make sense of these patterns by devising a scheme for sorting the stars into categories. Annie Jump Cannon's success at this activity made her famous in her own lifetime, and she produced a stellar classification system that is still in use today. Antonia Maury discerned in the spectra a way to assess the relative sizes of stars, and Henrietta Leavitt showed how the cyclic changes of certain variable stars could serve as distance markers in space." Other computers in the team included Williamina Fleming and Florence Cushman. Although these women started primarily as calculators, they made significant contributions to astronomy, much of which they published in re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Charles Pickering
Edward Charles Pickering (July 19, 1846 – February 3, 1919) was an American astronomer and physicist and the older brother of William Henry Pickering. Along with Carl Vogel, Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. He wrote ''Elements of Physical Manipulations'' (2 vol., 1873–76). Personal life Pickering was born at 43 Bowdoin Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 19, 1846,Obituary, ''Boston Globe'', February 4, 1919 to a distinguished, cultivated family consisting of his brother, William Henry Pickering, father, Edward Pickering, and his mother, Charlotte Hammond. Edward's brother, William, was a graduate of MIT and professor of physics and astronomy. Edward was interested in the stars as a boy and constructed his own telescope by the age of 12. Pickering enjoyed his work at the observatory, but he was also enjoyed mountain climbing and bicycling in earlier days and later he was an interested spectator of football games. He was co-founder and first pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteorological Intelligence
Meteorological intelligence is information measured, gathered, compiled, exploited, analyzed and disseminated by meteorologists, climatologists and hydrologists to characterize the current state and/or predict the future state of the atmosphere at a given location and time. Meteorological intelligence is a subset of environmental intelligence and is synonymous with the term weather intelligence. The earliest known use of the term "meteorological intelligence" in a written document dates to 1854 on pg. 168 of the Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. This report discusses the Smithsonian Institution's initiative to transmit meteorological intelligence via telegraph lines. An early reference to "meteorological intelligence" in England dates an 1866 issue of The Edinburgh Review which was a prominent Scottish journal during the 19th century (Reeve 1866, pg. 75). Another documented, early use of the term dates to 1874 in a historical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of its active battle fleet alone exceeding the next 13 navies combined, including 11 allies or partner nations of the United States as of 2015. It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage (4,635,628 tonnes as of 2019) and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, two new carriers under construction, and five other carriers planned. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the United States Navy is the third largest of the United States military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 2,623 operational aircraft . The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal Corps (United States Army)
) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , anniversaries = 21 June 1860 , decorations = , battle_honours = , notable_commanders = BG Albert J. Myer BG Adolphus Greely , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = Branch insignia , identification_symbol_2 = , identification_symbol_2_label = Regimental insignia , current_commander = , current_commander_label = , ceremonial_chief = Colonel Paul D. Howard , ceremonial_chief_label = Chief of Signal , command_sergeant_major = CSM Darien D. Lawshea , command_sergeant_major_label = Sergeant Major of the Regiment The United States Army Signal Corps (U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Biddell Airy
Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the Earth, a method of solution of two-dimensional problems in solid mechanics and, in his role as Astronomer Royal, establishing Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian. Biography Airy was born at Alnwick, one of a long line of Airys who traced their descent back to a family of the same name residing at Kentmere, in Westmorland, in the 14th century. The branch to which he belonged, having suffered in the English Civil War, moved to Lincolnshire and became farmers. Airy was educated first at elementary schools in Hereford, and afterwards at Colchester Royal Grammar School. An introverted child, Airy gained popularity with his schoolmates through his great skill in the construction of peashooters. From the age of 13, Airy stayed frequ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and the clipper ship ''Cutty Sark'' are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich. The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II, with the foundation stone being laid on 10 August. The old hilltop site of Greenwich Castle was chosen by Sir Christopher Wren, a former Savilian Professor of Astronomy; as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Mitchell
Maria Mitchell (Help:IPA/English, /məˈraɪə/; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later known as "Miss Mitchell's Comet" in her honor. She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1848. Mitchell was the first internationally known woman to work as both a professional astronomer and a professor of astronomy after accepting a position at Vassar College in 1865. She was also the first woman elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Early years (1818–1846) Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818, on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, to Lydia Coleman Mitchell, a library worker, and William Mitchell, a schoolteacher and amateur astronomer. The third of ten children, Mitchell and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Edwards (human Computer)
Mary Edwards (c. 1750 – September 1815) was a human computer for the British Nautical Almanac and one of a very few women paid directly by the Board of Longitude, and to earn a living from scientific work at the time. She was one of 35 human computers who calculated the position of the sun, moon and planets at different times of day for annual nautical almanacs used for navigation at sea. Work Edwards was introduced to the almanac project and to Nevil Maskelyne, the fifth English Astronomer Royal, through her clergyman husband the Revd John Edwards (c 1748–1784) 'Shropshire Star'' report, 11 May 2016. who had taken on piece-work as a computer to supplement the family income and received payment for work on 6 months' worth of each almanac from 1773 until his death in 1784. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nevil Maskelyne
Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris for the Meridian of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich'' using Johann Tobias Mayer's corrections for Euler's ''Lunar Theory'' tables. Biography Maskelyne was born in London, the third son of Edmund Maskelyne of Purton in Wiltshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Booth. Maskelyne's father died when he was 12, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. Maskelyne attended Westminster School and was still a pupil there when his mother died in 1748. His interest in astronomy had begun while at Westminster School, shortly after the eclipse of 14 July 1748. Maskelyne entered St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 1749, graduating as seventh wrangler in 1754. Ordained as a minister in 1755, he became a fellow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
