Title: Oral history interview with Isaac Levin Auerbach
Call Number: OH 2
Interviewee: Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992
Interviewer: Nancy B. Stern
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Transcript, 41 pp.
Abstract: Auerbach recounts his experiences at Electronic Control Company (later the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company) in the period 1947-1949. He emphasizes the economic and practical infeasibility of the BINAC computer project for Northrop Aircraft. Auerbach also discusses the UNIVAC, including personalities, politics, and its technical features. The roles of the National Bureau of Standards, Northrop Aircraft, Raytheon, Remington Rand, and IBM are brought into a perspective relative to the development of the UNIVAC.
Subject(s):
Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (Philadelphia, Pa.) ; Computers -- United States -- History ; Computer industry -- United States -- History ; BINAC (Computer) ; Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992 ; Univac computer
Citation: Isaac L. Auerbach, OH 2. Oral history interview by Nancy B. Stern, 10 April 1978. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Copyright: Copyright to this oral history is held by the Charles Babbage Institute. Distribution in any format of the transcript in its entirety is prohibited. Permission to quote from the transcript under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) is granted provided that this source is cited.
Transcript: Link to transcript
Title: Oral history interview with Isaac Levin Auerbach
Call Number: OH 241
Interviewee: Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992
Interviewer: Bruce Bruemmer
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Transcript, 104 pp.
Abstract: Auerbach begins by discussing friction between himself and J. Presper Eckert and his reasons for leaving Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. He recounts the circumstances leading to his employment from 1949-1957 with the Burroughs Corporation, his relations with Irven Travis, who headed the computer department at Burroughs, and the formation of the Burroughs Research Laboratory. He describes a number of projects he managed at Burroughs, including computer equipment for the SAGE project, BEAM I computer, the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System, a magnetic core encryption communications system, and a missile guidance computer used for the Atlas missile. Auerbach comments on his management of the Defense, Space and Special Products Division, the general management of Burroughs, and his decision to leave the company.
Auerbach outlines the establishment of Auerbach Electronics (later Auerbach Associates), one of the first computer consulting firms, and describes his initial contacts with RCA (for the BMEWS system), Honeywell, Leeds and Northrup, and Hot Shoppes (Marriott). He describes the growth of the company and other ventures such as Standard Computer Corporation (computer leasing), International Systems (data processing system for parimutuel betting developed with George Skakel of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation), and Auerbach Publishers, a successful venture that became known for its computer product reviews. He describes his concern with military and government contracts, the sale of Auerbach Associates in 1976 to the Calculon Corporation, and his subsequent consulting activity. He concludes with a discussion of his work with the International Federation for Information Processing, the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, and his philanthropic work primarily in the Philadelphia area and Israel.
Subject(s):
Travis, Irven A., 1904- ; Skakel, George, ca. 1922-1966 ; Philanthropists -- Philadelphia ; Military art and science -- Data processing ; International Systems Corporation ; International Federation for Information Processing ; Humanitarianism ; Honeywell-Auerbach Computer Services ; Electronic data processing consultants ; Electronic data processing -- Societies, etc. ; Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (Philadelphia, Pa.) ; Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919- ; Computer service industry ; Computer industry -- History ; Burroughs Corporation ; Auerbach, Isaac L. (Isaac Levin), 1921-1992 ; Auerbach Publishers ; Auerbach Corporation ; Auerbach Associates ; American Federation of Information Processing Societies
Citation: Isaac L. Auerbach, OH 241. Oral history interview by Bruce Bruemmer, 2-3 October 1992, Narberth, Pennsylvania. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Copyright: Copyright to this oral history is held by the Charles Babbage Institute. Distribution in any format of the transcript in its entirety is prohibited. Permission to quote from the transcript under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) is granted provided that this source is cited.
Transcript: Link to transcript
