It was in Summer 1953 that the NPS Mathematics department took delivery for the new CRC-102A computer, one of the world's first educational computers.  Its components included 195 vacuum tubes, 2500 diodes, 40 amps and 110 v.  It ran a single-reel tape at a speed of 100 opc/sec and cost $58,000. 

The CRC-102A was intended to be used in nearly all phases of the physical sciences, including for weather simulation  and simulation of electronics systems, business, industrial, and military games. It was later known as the NCR 102A when its manufacturer, Computer Research Corporation was taken over by the National Cash Register Company. 

Read a presentation on the history of Computing at NPS in NPS Archive: Calhoun at https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/48960.

NPS Historical Highlights are brought to you by the Dudley Knox Library.

The name of NPS Archive: Calhoun honors Naval Postgraduate School Professor Guy K. Calhoun (1889-1920), professor of Mathematics, and the first appointed -- and published -- NPS scholarly author. 

This earliest known appointment for a Naval Postgraduate School professor occurred on May 6, 1910 when the 61st Congress approved Ensign Guy K. Calhoun as “professor of mathematics in the navy.” 

Following his 1908 graduation from the Naval Academy, Prof. Calhoun made extensive computations to develop a set of mathematics tables that proved to be highly useful to navigators. 

His work, Products of Arcs and Sines of 15-Degree Rhumbs was published by the Government Printing Office in 1910.  It remains in print to the present day. (Read it at OpenLibrary.) 

Prof. Calhoun’s Congressional appointment, discovered by NPS Mathematics Faculty member Carlos Borges, sheds new light on the process of faculty hiring at Annapolis. (At the time of his appointment, NPS was called the School of Marine Engineering and was co-located with the Naval Academy at Annapolis.)

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You can also borrow USB CAC readers from the Information Desk.

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