IEEE Computer Society
Dallas Chapter
25 SEP 2009 Meeting
IEEE Computer Society |
Dallas Chapter 25 SEP 2009 Meeting |
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| When: | Friday 25 SEP 2009 Lunch: 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM Talk: 12:15 PM - 1:00 PM |
| Where: | Texas Instruments ("South Campus") 12500 TI Boulevard (SAME location as 8505 Forest Ln; just redefined main gate) Dallas, TX (Conference Rooms S1 & S2) |
| Topic: | "The Norden Bombsight -- It could drop a bomb from 30,000 feet into a Pickle Barrel. Or could it?" |
| Speaker: | Harvey Cragon Professor Emeritus, UT Austin Senior Fellow, Texas Instruments, Retired |
| Abstract: | The Norden Bombsight is the vaunted analog computer of WWII. This device was claimed to be so accurate that with it a bomber, flying at 30,000 feet, could put a bomb in a “pickle barrel”.
The requirement for accurate bombing is to be at the right place (in three dimensions) at the right time to drop a bomb that will hit the target. Carl Norden’s design philosophy and implementation of this bombsight will be described. The Norden Bombsight is a compact special purpose electro-mechanical computer with many clever implementation features devised to solve the triangular bombing problem. Unfortunately, there was an error (or oversight) in understanding the environment when bombing from 30,000 ft. and an implementation oversight expanded the diameter of the pickle barrel to 1 mile (much better than the RAF could do). By 1943 this once super-secret device was being removed from most high altitude bombers. However, the Norden Bombsight was used to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The reason it worked there will be explained. |
| Bio: | Harvey Cragon is Professor Emeritus at UT Austin. Prior to his academic career he was with Texas Instrument for 25 years in Dallas and Austin. For over 35 years his research interests have been in high-speed computers and computer architecture design methodology.
Professor Cragon received his BSEE from Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in 1950. He was presented the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award in 1984 and the ACM/IEEE Eckert-Mauchly Award in 1986. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the ACM. Mr. Cragon holds 9 patents in the field of Computer Engineering and has over 50 refereed conference or solicited papers. He is the author of three textbooks. His current interest is in the Norden Bombsight, an electromechanical computer used in WWII to guide a bomber into the proper position to accurately drop bombs from high altitudes. |
| Directions: | Even though TI's Forest Lane site has been given a new official entrance address at 12500 TI Boulevard and been renamed as TI's "South Campus," find our Dallas IEEE CS meetings just as you've always done. Head to the site's SouthEast (SE) entrance off Forest Lane JUST west of Greenville Avenue. Preferred parking is at extreme SE corner of the building. Enter the public lobby at building's SE corner and ask guard to direct you to conference rooms S-1/S-2 (very near this entrance). (See map.) |
| Cost: |
Technical Presentation: FREE to
both IEEE CS Members and the general public. Lunch: $10 to both Members and Non-Members. Please reserve lunch by 21 SEP with our online form or by contacting Lucrecia at 214-567-4194 (Lucrecia) . |
| Access: | Since the meeting rooms are inside TI, some attendees may need to pre-register for access. If you are neither a U.S. citizen nor permanent U.S. resident (with "green card") and are from a "restricted country", please contact Jim at 214-567-2637 (Jim) by 21 SEP to arrange for convenient pre-registration . |
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