Stanford, the IBM 650, and the First Trials of Computer Date Matching
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In 1959, two Stanford undergraduate electrical engineering students enrolled in Math 139, Theory and Operation of Computing Machines, and as a final class project, devised the "Happy Families Planning Service." They used the IBM model 650 computer, pairing up 49 men and 49 women, for the first known computer-date-matched party.
[1] 74 A less technical version of this article appeared as "Computers in Love: Stanford and the First Trials of Computer Date Matching," Sandstone and Tile, vol. 26, no. 2–3, 2002, pp. 1–9, http:/histsoc.stanford.edu.
[2] For additional information on the early history of Stanford's computer science program, see chapters 6–7 of C. Stewart Gillmor, Fred Terman at Stanford: Building a Discipline, a University, and Silicon Valley, Stanford Univ. Press, 2004.
[3] Terman, by 1955 both dean of engineering and provost, was the first faculty member I met upon arriving as a student at Stanford in 1956. Herriot was my calculus teacher in freshman year, and Peterson was my first advisor.
[4] D.I. McFadden to W. Sterling, 16 July 1952, concerning 15 July meeting of Terman, Bowker, Herriot, Peterson, and others; Stanford Univ. Archives, SC216/13/13.
[5] G.J. Lieberman to Terman, 9 Jan. 1956, Stanford Univ. Archives, SC216/13/17.
[6] F. Terman, President's Report, 1955–56, School of Engineering, Stanford Univ. Archives, 1103/3.
[7] C. Stewart Gillmor, "Stanford Sadie and the Early Years of KZSU Radio Broadcasting," Sandstone and Tile, vol. 23, no. 1, 1999, pp. 11–20, http:/histsoc.stanford.edu.
[8] For a convenient description of US computers in 1956, see J.W. Carr, "Solving Scientific Problems," Control Eng., vol. 3, Jan. 1956, pp. 63–70, J.W. Carr and A.J. Perlis, "A Comparison of Large-Scale Calculators," Control Eng. , vol. 3, Feb. 1956, pp. 84–92; and J.W. Carr and A.J. Perlis, "Small-Scale Computers as Scientific Calculators," Control Eng. , vol. 3, Mar. 1956, pp. 99–104.
[9] See C.J. Bashe et al., IBM's Early Computers, MIT Press, 1986.
[10] P.A. Fialer and J.A. Harvey Math 139 Project File, 1959, in private collection of James A. Harvey.
[11] "216 Meets 4," Time, 25 Oct. 1963, p. 102.
[12] S. Gillmor letter to the editor, Time, 8 Nov. 1963.
[13] Stanford University Archives, SC160/III/61/2, E. Forsythe Report of Ad Hoc Committee for the Stanford Computation Center, Appendix by John Herriot, 19 Feb. 1960.
Index Terms:
Stanford, history, IBM 650, computer date matching, student life, humor
Citation:
C. Stewart Gillmor, "Stanford, the IBM 650, and the First Trials of Computer Date Matching," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 74-80, Jan.-Mar. 2007, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2007.13
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