Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States

Essay on Sources

essay on sources In examining the introduction of digital electronic computers to biology and medicine , this book shows that early computerization of each area was deeply influenced by the priorities of early biomedical computing advocates, the missions and constraints of the institutions that sponsored computer use, and the capabilities and restrictions of the technology itself. As I outline, many crucial tools and resources for biology and medicine have roots in these early efforts. Furthermore, computer technology itself came away from the process profoundly changed, and indeed the particular way most people use computers today owes much to early attempts to make computers more useful to life scientists. To support these claims, this book draws on a wide variety of conventional and unconventional sources. A full bibliography is available online at www.cas.sc.edu/hist/ books/november/. primary sources Published Material The many journals that today are dedicated to the use of computers in biology and medicine did not exist during the period covered by this book, the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, when interest in the subject was forming. Nevertheless, most of the scientists, computer developers, and computing advocates I examine published extensively in peerreviewed journals and other formal outlets. Besides conveying the methods of computing pioneers, such sources often make explicit their motivations and priorities. For instance, Robert Ledley and Lee Lusted articulated their vision of how physicians should prepare to use computers in “Reasoning Foundations of Medical Diagnosis,” Science 130 (July 3, 1959): 9–21. Just a few months later in the same journal, Ledley published his plans for the computerization of biology as “Digital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science ,” Science 130 (Nov. 6, 1959): 1225–34. Both articles were widely read at the time and demonstrably convinced many biologists and physicians, including Joshua Lederberg and Homer Warner (both subjects of this book), to start to use computers. Ledley’s 1965 monograph on biomedical computing, Use of Computers in Biology and Medicine (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965), further expanded on his plans, but due to significant changes in computer technology between 1959 and 1965 many of its discussions were outdated by time it was published. In the case of the LINC, Wesley Clark and Charles Molnar made clear their machine’s design priorities and capabilities in “A Description of the LINC,” in Computers in Biomedical Research, Vol. 2, edited by Ralph W. Stacy and Bruce D. Waxman (New York: Academic Press, 1965). 324 Essay on Sources Several conferences, where many of the book’s subjects gathered, provide in their published proceedings a wealth of information on their activities and ideas. These include: Data Acquisition and Processing in Biology and Medicine: Proceedings of the 1961– 1963 Rochester Conferences, edited by Kurt Enslein (New York: Pergamon Press, 1962– 1964); Proceedings of the 3rd IBM Medical Symposium (Endicott, NY: IBM, 1961); and Proceedings of the Final LINC Evaluation Program Meeting (St. Louis: Computer Research Laboratory, Washington University, 1965). The last set of proceedings offers a candid look at a wide spectrum of experiences of researchers who began to use computers in their laboratories, and it is unique in that participants were attentive to the changes the new technology brought to their work. Publicity material provided much insight into the institutional mechanisms of introducing computers to biology and medicine. A brochure circulated by the NIH’s Division of Research Facilities and Resources, titled Special Research Resources for the Biomedical Sciences (Bethesda: NIH 1965), encouraged NIH grant applicants to consider using computers in their research, and provided explanations of how the NIH could support the use of computers. The National Biomedical Research Foundation’s massive promotional book, NBR Research Accomplishments 1960–1970 (Washington, DC: NBRF, 1973), featured article reprints but also accessible descriptions of the machines and computing resources developed by that organization during its first decade. The effort the foundation put into that book demonstrates the importance of engaging a wide audience in order to obtain support for computing projects. Finally, advertising by computer manufacturers like IBM, DEC, CDC, and Spear Electronics serves to illustrate how these corporations hoped to create a lucrative market for their machines in the life sciences. Unpublished Material One of the major challenges in preparing this book was that there are very few wellorganized and professionally managed archival collections dedicated to early biomedical computing. The most extensive repository is located at the Stanford University Archives, which in its ACME Collection (SC 236) contains papers related to development of a biomedical computing facility at Stanford, and...