Herb Grosch

Dr. Herbert R.J. Grosch, "A computer pioneer who managed important space and technology projects, Grosch is respected for discovering and describing the relationship between speed and cost of computers."
  — ACM Fellows Award Citation

Years ago I thought I was the brightest guy in the world. Then I met von Neumann and Feynman. In recent decades I've settled for greatest name-dropper. Then I found Bemer's sites!! Best to just shoot for crankiest? Or at least, crankiest nonagenarian [Sept. 2008]?
  — Herb Grosch, 26 November 2003

• US Naval Observatory, 1941.
• PhD, Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1942.
• Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University, 1945-1951.
• Charter Member, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 1947.
• Giver, Grosch's Law (1950): "Computing power increases as the square of the cost."
• Project WHIRLWIND, MIT, 1951.
• President, American Rocket Society (now American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), 1951.
• Lecturer, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK, 1954.
• First Manager of IBM's Space Program, 1958-59.
• Contributing Editor, DATAMATION, 1959-63.
• Director, National Bureau of Standards Center for Computer Sciences and Technology, 1967-70.
• Fellow, British Computer Society, 1959.
• Editor, Computerworld, 1973-76 (26 Jul 1967 V1#2 COVER).
• President, Association for Computing Machinery, 1976-78.
• Professor, Columbia University (1946-51), Arizona State College (now University) (1956), Boston U (1972), NMSU Las Cruces (1994), UNLV Las Vegas (Distinguished, 2002), Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, (2003–). At Columbia, Grosch designed and taught one of the world's first computer science courses, Engineering 281: Numerical Methods, beginning in 1946.

Pictured: Herb Grosch with duck (presented by IBM's Thomas J. Watson Jr., who dubbed Grosch "the wild duck of the space program"). 1989 Photo courtesy Herb Grosch. CLICK HERE for a 1951 portrait.

Selected Publications:

• Maxwell, Allan D. and H.R.J. Grosch, "Elements and Ephemeris of Delaporte Object 1936 CA", Publications of the Observatory of the University of Michigan, Vol.6, No.11 (1937).
• Grosch, H.R.J., Integration Orbit and Mean Elements of Jupiter's Eighth Satellite, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan (April 1942).
• Grosch, H.R.J., and J.E. Willis, "Positions of Pluto", Astronomical Journal, Vol.50, No.14 (June 1942), pp.14-15.
• Grosch, H.R.J., "Ray Tracing on IBM Punched Card Equipment", Journal of the Optical Society of America, Vol.35, 803A (1945).
• Grosch, H.R.J., Bibliography on the Use of IBM Machines in Scientific Research, Statistics, and Education, IBM (1945).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "Harmonic Analysis by the Use of Progressive Digiting", Proceedings of the 1946 Research Forum, IBM (1946).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "The Orbit of the Eighth Satellite of Jupiter", Astronomical Journal, Vol.53, No.180 (1948) (a condensed published form of Grosch's 1942 Ph.D. thesis).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "Ray Tracing with the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator", Journal of the Optical Society of America, Vol.39, 1059A (1949).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "Multiplication of Small Matrices", IBM, New York (1 Jun 1949).
• Grosch, H.R.J., (ed.), Proceedings of the 1948 Scientific Computation Forum, IBM (1950).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "The Use of Optimum Interval Mathematical Tables", Proceedings of the 1948 Scientific Computation Forum, IBM (1950).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "Bibliography on Chebyshev Polynomials and Their Use as Optimum Approximation Functions", Proeceedings of the 1949 Scientific Computation Seminar, IBM (1951).
• Grosch, H.R.J., "A New Level of Instruction in Celestial Mechanics", Astronomical Journal, Vol.63 (1958).
• Grosch, H.R.J, Computer: Bit Slices of A Life (first edition), Third Millenium Books (1991).

Links:

• Grosch, Herbert R.J., Computer: Bit Slices from a Life, 3rd Edition (2003).
• Grosch, H.R.J, "Recollections of the Watson Scientific Laboratory, 1945-1950", The Computer Museum Report, Vol.4 (Spring 1983).
• Herb Grosch Papers (Smithsonian Institution)
• A Conversation with Herbert R.J. Grosch (ACM Ubiquity, Volume 2, Issue 39, December 4-10, 2001)
• Von Neumann versus Watsun Sr. (Herb Grosch ACM Lecture, January 2003).
• Gardner, W. David, "Author of Grosch's Law Going Strong At 87", TechWeb News, 12 April 2005.
• Herb Grosch and friend with IBM 701 (1956).

Most recent update: Wed Apr 13 10:31:27 2005