IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/IBM_NORC.jpg/220px-IBM_NORC.jpg)
The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) was a one-of-a-kind first-generation (
The computer was presented to the US Navy on December 2, 1954. At the presentation ceremony, it calculated pi to 3,089 digits, which was a record at the time. The calculation took only 13 minutes. In 1955, NORC was moved to the Naval Proving Ground[4] at Dahlgren, Virginia. It was their main computer until 1958, when more modern computers were acquired. It continued to be used until 1963.[5][6][self-published source] Its design influenced the IBM 701 and subsequent machines in the IBM 700 series of computers.
Technology
The machine originally used
At some point the Williams tube memory was replaced with 20,000 words of magnetic-core memory, with an access time of 8 microseconds.
The speed of the NORC was 15,000 operations per second. An addition took 15 microseconds, a multiplication took 31 microseconds, and a division took 227 microseconds, not counting memory access time and checking. It had the capacity to do
The main hardware consisted of 1,982
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3e/NORC_CRT_film_output.jpg/220px-NORC_CRT_film_output.jpg)
The NORC had eight magnetic tape units which were similar to the tape drives on the IBM 701 system. The reels were 8 inches in diameter and somewhat similar in appearance to a metal 16 mm film reel. Unlike the 701 series tape drives, there was no operator control panel on the face of the machine, instead there were buttons placed on the top front of the machines that were used to initiate tape loading, rewinding, unloading, etc. The drives could read or write 71,500 characters per second. It had two printers that could print 150 lines per minute, although only one printer could be used at a time. It also had a card reader which could read 100 cards per minute, with four words stored per card. It also had a display unit which consisted of a CRT tube and a 35 mm film camera which photographed the face of the tube and then sent the film through a develop and fix process before it was projected on a rear projection screen approximately 12 frames after the initial exposure. High volume data could also be recorded as text on the film, and employees of the Naval Weapons Laboratory would often work overtime in a darkened room scanning the films for obvious recording failures in critical data.
Awards and honors
The main-belt asteroid
References
- ^ "NAVAL PROVING GRCOUND CALCULATORS". Digital Computer Newsletter. 7 (2): 7. April 1955.
- ^ The NORC was the first supercomputer, states Frank da Cruz (da Cruz 2004).
- ^ Lee, J.A.N. "(column)". IEEE Computer. 50th anniversary issue.
- ^ "9. Naval Proving Ground Calculators". Digital Computer Newsletter. 7 (4): 5. October 1955.
- ISBN 9781573565219.
norc 1954.
- ISBN 9781462810659.
- ^ Naval Ordnance Research Calculator A THIRD SURVEY OF DOMESTIC ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS by Martin H. Weik ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND
- ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
Citations
- da Cruz, Frank (October 18, 2004). "The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator". Columbia University Computing History. Retrieved October 20, 2006.
- IBM (January 23, 2003). "IBM Archive: IBM's NORC". Retrieved October 20, 2006.
- Eckert, Wallace J.; Jones, Rebecca (1955). Faster, Faster: A Simple Description of a Giant Electronic Calculator and the Problems it Solves. McGraw-Hill. (No ISBN, Dewey decimal: 510.8 E19f). A contemporary book about the NORC.
- Goldstine, Herman H (1972). The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691081045.
- Williams, Michael R. (1997). A History of Computing Technology. IEEE Computer Society.
External links
- Warner Pathé News about the NORC: Smartest Brain Joins The Navy (1954) on YouTube(time 0:45 min.)
- "ARTICLES: The Significance of the New Computer NORC". Computers and Automation. 4 (2). 195502.pdf: 10–13. February 1955. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - "2. Naval Proving Ground Computers". Digital Computer Newsletter. 7 (1): 2–4. January 1955.
- Electronic Design: Vol 3 Iss 3 - Control Area for a Giant Computer [Description of the control panel]. Penton Media. March 1, 1955. pp. 40–43.