Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
TechSoup Global occupies a very interesting market niche that needs much
more study than it ordinarily receives in the academic software literature. In fact,
business schools should consider case studies of the benefits and impact of com-
puters and software in charitable organizations.
Wolfram Research
Wolfram Research was founded by the mathematician Stephen Wolfram in 1987
in Champaign, Illinois. The two main products of this company are important, pi-
oneering, and powerful.
One product is Mathematica, which is an advanced mathematics package
widely used by astronomers, physicists, chemists, biologists, and other researchers
who need to perform sophisticated mathematical calculations. It is also used
by many college students and essentially anyone who needs more mathematical
power than a spreadsheet or scientific calculator can provide.
The second major product is Wolfram Alpha, which is a pioneer
intelligent
agent
that scans the web and returns with an analysis of results rather than just lists
of websites that contain information.
There are other products besides these two, such as Wolfram System Modeler
and Wolfram Workbench. The company also developed the Computable Docu-
ment Format (CDF), which is similar in concept to the PDF but is used for only
interactive documents.
Many of the founders of software systems have interesting backgrounds and
personalities, and Stephen Wolfram is no exception. He was something of a child
prodigy and was known to do mathematical homework for his fellow students for
a fee. He matriculated through several major schools, including Eton, Oxford, and
Cal Tech, where he received a Ph.D. in physics at the age of 20. Prior to that, he
had published a number of highly regarded papers on physics topics such as heavy
quarks while still a teenager.
Note
Stephen Wolfram is also a consultant for
Numb3rs
, a television
mystery show about the use of mathematics to solve criminal cases.
It should be recalled from the first chapter of this topic that a need to speed up
mathematical calculations was the impetus that led to dozens of mechanical calcu-
lating devices and finally to analog and digital computers. Wolfram's Mathematica
Search WWH ::
Custom Search