Memorable Ideas of a Computer School: The Life and Work of Antonín Svoboda (review)

Antonín Svoboda is a well-known figure in computing history due to his work on computation using mechanical linkages for anti-aircraft weapons during World War II and his pioneering contributions to computing in Czechoslovakia. The latter posthumously earned Svoboda the 1996 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award. Less known to historians are Svoboda's publications on theoretical computer science and computer arithmetic. George Klir's book therefore serves as a welcome addition, albeit an imperfect one.

Klir attempts to give a comprehensive view of Svoboda's accomplishments by dedicating approximately 40 pages of this compilation to a biographical overview, a chronology of major events, several pages of photographs, and an extensive bibliography. The remainder consists of reprints of selected papers by Svoboda. Much of the biographical material covered has been previously published elsewhere and is based on the oral history conducted by Robina Mapstone in 1979 for the Charles Babbage Institute.¹

The biographical part makes for entertaining reading, but the narrative's quality is somewhat inconsistent. Klir was a student and close associate of Svoboda's and his admiration is readily apparent; minor stylistic transgressions and a slightly meandering style can be forgiven. Klir also includes his own story, but that too is acceptable because it adds to the understanding of the political and academic environment of the time.

Klir recounts the circuitous route Antonín Svoboda, his family, and his associates had to take in their attempts to flee from Czechoslovakia to France and ultimately to the US. Parallels to Konrad Zuse's escape from Berlin come to mind, and Svoboda's emigration via Casablanca conjures up Hollywood films. Although this period of personal hardship is likely of less interest to the computer historian, it paints a richer picture than a mere chronology of technical accomplishments would. Svoboda's enthusiastic return to Czechoslovakia after the war and his eventual defection to the US in 1964 round out the story that helps put his accomplishments into a geopolitical context.

Svoboda had the good fortune to have met some American and Western European computer pioneers during his time at the MIT Radiation Laboratory² and then during a research tour in 1947. His friendship with Howard Aiken and visits to Harvard made Svoboda aware of the potential of digital computing. His subsequent shift towards digital technology can be seen as an example of technology transfer across the Iron Curtain. Klir points out instances of independent discovery by Svoboda in his theoretical work and reminds us that sharing of information between east and west during the Cold War was significantly impeded.

The reprints of Svoboda's papers are almost exclusively from the fields of number representation, computer arithmetic, and Boolean function theory and logic design.3 These papers—some of them published here for the first time—along with the personal photographs are the main strength of this book. Although there is little detail on Svoboda's UCLA years in the narrative, some of the papers are from that period. The previously unpublished papers on the application of the special-purpose Boolean Analyzer are a valuable primary source. Klir made the conscious decision not to include documents relating to mechanical linkages and correctly argues that this topic is best covered in Svoboda's own book.²

Klir's book gives a very personal story of Antonín Svoboda, which supplements prior publications, but does not venture into critical historical analysis. The collection of papers is selective and the reader should not expect coverage of all aspects of Svoboda's substantial body of work. The most obvious omission is the result of the abbreviated treatment of the SAPO and EPOS machines.^1,4,5 Nonetheless, Klir's book will further the understanding of Czechoslovakian computing in general and Svoboda's larger contributions in particular.⁶