Herman Goldstine served as the primary liaison between the United States Army and the Moore School of Electrical Engineering during the critical development of the ENIAC. This early electronic digital computer, weighing 30 tons and housing 18,000 vacuum tubes, established the technical foundation for the electronic computing era that defined his subsequent career in both academic and corporate settings.
Military Service and Ballistics
Born in Chicago in 1913, Goldstine completed his academic training at the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in sciences. Upon the United States entering World War II, he transitioned from teaching at the University of Michigan to active service in the U.S. Army. As an ordnance mathematician at the Ballistic Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland, he focused on calculating firing tables for artillery. The manual process proved inefficient, necessitating the engagement of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, where he met John Mauchly to discuss faster electronic calculation methods.
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During his collaboration with the Moore School, Goldstine helped secure Army funding for the ENIAC project. Following this, he joined an effort to build a successor machine, the EDVAC. His serendipitous 1944 meeting with John von Neumann led to a partnership that produced the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC. This 101-page document articulated the concept of stored-program memory and exerted significant influence on computer design, becoming widely known as the von Neumann architecture.
Institute for Advanced Study and IBM
In 1946, Goldstine joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He served as assistant director and later director of the project to build the IAS machine. Following the death of von Neumann in 1957, Goldstine moved to IBM. There, he founded the Mathematical Sciences Department at the Watson Research Center and eventually attained the status of IBM Fellow. His later years were dedicated to the history of mathematics, during which he authored several texts regarding numerical analysis and the history of computers.
Fast facts
- Born: 1913, Chicago
- Died: 2004, Bryn Mawr
- Education: University of Chicago, PhD
- Military service: United States Army (1941-1946)
- Key IBM position: IBM Fellow (1969)
- National Medal of Science recipient: 1983
- Notable work: The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann
- Professional memberships: National Academy of Sciences
Questions readers ask
What was Goldstine's contribution to the ENIAC project?
He served as the Army liaison to the Moore School and helped secure essential government funding for the machine's development.
Where did Goldstine work after leaving the Institute for Advanced Study?
He spent fifteen years at IBM, where he established the Mathematical Sciences Department and became an IBM Fellow.
Achievements
- National Medal of Science — 1983
- Held posts at University of Michigan, University of Chicago and United States Army
- Fields: computer science
