Abstract
WEIZAC, the first electronic computer built at the Weizmann Institute in the recently established State of Israel, was operational between 1955 and 1963. The driving force behind the project was the applied mathematician Chaim Leib Pekeris, and the chief engineer of the project was Gerald Estrin, who had actively participated in the IAS computer project. For Pekeris the electronic computer was an instrument meant to serve the aims of a Zionist vision, in which applied science would play a fundamental role. WEIZAC would help to achieve technological progress in the young country and to enhance the skills of the local engineers. Pekeris paved the way to the insitutional approval of the project, mobilized financial resources, and put together a team of talented engineers and scientists, some of whom came to Israel especially for the task. The WEIZAC project, under his leadership, produced important scientific results and opened the way to the development of a very successful computer culture in Israel.
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Notes
- 1.
Similar processes affected various scientific communities where computing-intense methods existed prior to the advent of electronic computers, and that made a successful transition to the new era. Two noteworthy cases are those of pure mathematics, mainly number theory (Corry 2010) and quantum chemistry (Park 2003).
- 2.
For a comprehensive list of Pekeris’s publications, see https://www.weizmann.ac.il/math/sites/math/files/pekeris.pubs.pdf (accessed Oct. 7, 2021).
- 3.
Lee Segel, Conversation with Pekeris, Feb. 24, 1987 (HMF).
- 4.
Pekeris to Ettlinger (University of Texas), Dec. 13, 1946 (CPA).
- 5.
Rubinoff said that “Pekeris in fact was a rather close friend of Johnny von Neumann’s” (Rubinoff, interview by Richard R. Mertz, May 17, 1971. SOVA,1969–1973, 1977). A year before his death, von Neumann wrote to Pekeris (von Neumann to Pekeris, Feb. 24, 1956 (CPA)): “I am really touched by the signs of true friendship that you are giving me”.
- 6.
Von Neumann to Pekeris, Feb. 23, 1950 (WIA 72–3/96). The SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator) was an electromechanical computer built by IBM, operational between January 1948 and August 1952. It is remarkable that von Neumann mentioned it here in combination with the other two, since, although it possessed many of the characteristic features of a stored-program computer, it was not fully electronic. As a matter of fact, also the Mark II was electromechanical, relay-based and not stored- program (Haigh et al. 2016, pp. 247–252). Thus from the three computers mentioned, only ENIAC was fully electronic.
- 7.
In 1973, Estrin cited von Neumann as saying: “This guy Pekeris, is extremely versatile, hard-working guy…. I guarantee you that if nobody else in that country does anything to use that machine, he will keep it busy full-time by himself.” (Estrin, interview by Robina Mapstone, Jun. 15, 1973. SOVA #96, Box 6, Folder 12).
- 8.
Pekeris to Leon Roth, Mar. 13, 1945 (WIA 3–96–98).
- 9.
Pekeris to Bergmann, Mar. 9, 1946 (WIA 3–22–46).
- 10.
“The Following Examples”, in the Pekeris-Bergmann correspondence file (WIA 24–74–6).
- 11.
Pekeris to Getzoff, Dec. 8, 1946 (WIA 3–96/25).
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Corry, L., Leviathan, R. (2023). Introduction: WEIZAC, Pekeris, and Applied Mathematics. In: Chaim L. Pekeris and the Art of Applying Mathematics with WEIZAC, 1955–1963. SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27125-0_1
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