Popular Electronics: 1955 April
YEAR: 1955
ITEM: Periodical
COMPANY: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes
This copy of Popular Electronics contained an article entitled Project Cyclone which was the name of one of three projects started by the US Navy around 1946. The subtitle stated, "Giant computers solve industry's toughest problems and open new, lucrative field for women interested in mathematics." Project Cyclone was created to help the Navy explore new weapon systems, but this article takes an unusual focus (remember it is 1955) on the opportunities for women by focusing on Dr. Frances Bauer who was the senior mathematician for Reeves Instrument Corporation, the maker of the Reeves Electronic Analog Computer (REAC).
As enlightened as it might have been for its time, the article still showed some rather sexist opinions based on more current views. For instance when talking about the financial opportunities for women who would study mathematics it stated: Girls with a B.A. may expect to start at $65 to $75 per week. Those with an M.A. may get $85 to $100, while the Ph.D's will command around $125 weekly in the industrial market." (emphasis is mine) And in the final sentence, the article ends with the question, "Who said figures weren't interesting?" Also, the article had four pictures, one of Dr. Frances Bauer, one of the room sized REAC computer and two of Dr. Bauer's husband, Dr. Louis Bauer.
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Documents
Documents for this item have not yet been scanned or not yet posted. There are a lot of pages...contact us if you have an immediate need. (Although there are not a lot of "immediate needs" for a 70+ year old computer!)
OUR DEFINITIONS OF RARITY
One of a Kind: Only known existing item.
Exceedingly Rare: Only 2 to 10 known to exist.
Very Rare: Only 11 to 25 are known to exist.
Rare: Only 26 to 50 are known to exist.
Difficult: Difficult to find.
Available:Can be commonly be purchased.
Unknown: We cannot make a determination.
(For comparison: Many people consider the Apple-1 computer to be rare. As of 2025 there are 92 confirmed and probable Apple-1 computers.)
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