Before Electronics, Computers Were Humans

Before scientific calculators, iPods, palm pilots, and laptops, there were computers. Biological computers, people who crunched numbers for scientific projects, engaging in the humbler levels of scientific work, arranged in military precision to collectively tackle the big problems of the pre digital era. These computers were neither mathematical prodigies nor mechanized automatons but eager and knowledgeable people who, in other circumstances, might have been scientists in their own right. Many were women, minorities and youths who were prevented from pursuing math and science in more prestigious posts, eager to take part in any scientific role, they advanced the sum of human knowledge one detailed calculation at a time.

Human computing began with the invention of calculus in the late 18th century and a man named Edmond Halley. His work with comets led him to the edge of mathematics problems that exceeded his ability to solve. Attempting to compute the orbit of the comet which would bear his name, he realized his comet was at the mercy of the influences of the Sun, Saturn and Jupiter. So, with only a crude approximation of the comet's orbit, he cosigned the problem to the next generation of scientists. In the final edition of his synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets he wrote "I shall leave them [the unfinished calculations] to be discussed by the care of prosperity after the truth is found out by the event."