Univac

[Joel S. Berson]

As I read the quotation as provided by Garson, it is Asimov himself speaking:
>Asimov explained how he created the name "Multivac" in the
>book "Today and tomorrow and ..." published in 1973. (I have only seen
>a snippet of this book via Google Books. The date is from a WorldCat.)
>Excerpt:
>
>"Univac" is an acronym for "Universal Analog Computer," but I chose to
>consider it "Uni-vac" ("one vacuum tube") and invented my own favorite
>computer, "Multivac." In "Franchise," I had Multivac select (by
>methods best known to itself) 


Since "Franchise" is a story written by Asimov, I read the "I" as Asimov.

Joel

At 1/24/2011 11:57 AM, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>As Garson quotes him, it is Asimov *presenting the words of a character*
>looking back in time -- perhaps from this perspective, all early computers,
>from the analogue originals in Babbage's Calculating Machine (would this
>count as analogue?) through the slide rule (which is perhaps the ultimate
>analogue computing device) to Univac, would all blur into one as the mist of
>centuries overlaid the information content of the message.
>
>Not so much garbage in, garbage out as the noise level of time.
>
>As to Asimov's science credentials, he received (I haven't checked this, so
>the date may be out) his PhD in the late fifties, and did try to keep up,
>insofar as his voluminous writing in both SFiction and SFact allowed.  I
>rather like his popularizing style, and I've found him to be about as
>reliable as you'd expect.
>
>Robin
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:34 AM
>Subject: Re: Univac
>
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail
>>header -----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>Subject:      Re: Univac
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>At 1/22/2011 05:31 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>>>I meant to say that Asimov did not know the accurate etymology of
>>>UNIVAC. He thought it was "Universal Analog Computer" and not
>>>"Universal Automatic Computer".
>>
>>Given this blooper, must I view all Asimov's
>>assertions about science skeptically?  Anyone who
>>had taken Computers 101 (or read Wikipedia) would
>>know that UNIVAC I was not analog, but digital.
>>
>>And Wikipedia's photo confirms my recollection of
>>having walked around inside one.  The one given
>>to Harvard in 1956.  It was not one gigantic
>>vacuum tube (Wiki says 5200 tubes).
>>
>>Joel
>>
>>
>>>On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 5:23 PM, Garson O'Toole
>>><adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>...
>>> > The name "Multivac" is used in the short story "Franchise" published
>>> > in 1955. Asimov explained how he created the name "Multivac" in the
>>> > book "Today and tomorrow and ..." published in 1973. (I have only seen
>>> > a snippet of this book via Google Books. The date is from a WorldCat.)
>>> > Excerpt:
>>> >
>>> > "Univac" is an acronym for "Universal Analog Computer," but I chose to
>>> > consider it "Uni-vac" ("one vacuum tube") and invented my own favorite
>>> > computer, "Multivac." In "Franchise," I had Multivac select (by
>>> > methods best known to itself) .
>>> >
>>> > http://books.google.com/books?id=R7faAAAAMAAJ&q=uni-vac#search_anchor
>
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