(j3.2006) Do you want a copy of this?

[Keith Bierman]

Love one!

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 12, 2011, at 2:53 PM, Van Snyder <Van.Snyder at jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:

> I've received a scan of a letter from Herman Hollerith to somebody named
> Wilson (no first name given), dated 7 August 1919.  My friends at Haus
> zur Geschichte der IBM Datenverarbeitung in Sindelfingen believe Wilson
> was director of data processing at the US Census Bureau during WW II.
> 
> It gives some insight into how Hollerith came up with the idea for
> punched cards, and some of the work he did between 1880 and 1919.
> 
> Interestingly, he mentions paper tape, and explains why he rejected it.
> "My idea at the time was to use a strip of paper and punch the record
> for each individual in a line across the strip.  then I ran this strip
> over a drum and made contacts through the hole to operate counters.
> This you see gave me an ideal automatic feed.  The trouble was however
> that if for example you wanted any statics [sic] regarding chinamen you
> would have to run miles of paper to count a few chinamen....  I then
> abandoned the continuous strip and took up individual cards."
> 
> Let me know if you want a PDF.
> 
> -- 
> Van Snyder                    |  What fraction of Americans believe 
> Van.Snyder at jpl.nasa.gov       |  Wrestling is real and NASA is fake?
> Any alleged opinions are my own and have not been approved or
> disapproved by JPL, CalTech, NASA, the President, or anybody else.
> 
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