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Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.

Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.
Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.
Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.
Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.
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Carl Bowin in main lab aboard Chain with first sea-going computer.
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11/18/1958
archives/chain-191.tif
Date of photo is unknown
gravity meter.
Image Of the Day caption:
Before the advent of computers, researchers had to sift through data by hand. In 1962, scientist Carl Bowin installed the first computer on a WHOI ship, an IBM "1620" to analyze gravity measurements in real-time inside in a special air conditioned room aboard R/V Chain. It was so expensive Bowin rented it rather than buying it. IBM officials were doubtful the computer would survive at sea, but the machine performed successfully. Bowin said he felt a "thrilling sense of importance" when he saw the computer's first at-sea printout. By 1969, computers become standard equipment aboard WHOI ships.
Photo courtesy of WHOI Archives
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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