1940 to 1949: Computing During World War II and the Postwar Era - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 46

Wartime Innovations
Throughout history, warfare has led to countless inventions that later proved useful
in civilian life. A few examples include canned foods (developed under Napo-
leon, who offered a reward for a method of preserving food), chronometers, am-
bulances, sonar, radar, screw propellers for naval ships, tractor treads, the use
of railroads for logistical movement of supplies, jet engines, high-altitude rock-
ets, satellites, and Quonset huts (developed at the Navy base at Quonset Point,
Rhode Island, as a portable building that could be easily transported and rapidly
assembled). Operations research was also developed as a method for improving
military logistics and optimizing large-scale movements of equipment and troops.
The reverse is also true with civilian innovations often becoming important for
military operations. For example, the German General Staff sent observers to the
United States to study the way the Barnum and Bailey Circus loaded and unloaded
trains when moving from one city to the next. Students of logistics would visit the
Circus Museum in Sarasota, Florida, and examine the models used to demonstrate
how the circus could set up and take down tents so rapidly.
When a major war, such as World War II, breaks out, there is a huge need for
intelligence gathering, encryption, and decryption. There is also a huge need for
logistics support in order to optimize the construction of military materials and the
shipment and delivery of those materials to the troops that need them. In addition,
there is a huge need for other kinds of calculations, such as ballistics predictions
or predicting the run of a torpedo under varying conditions.
Before the war started, and indeed throughout the war, many of the calculations
needed to support military and manufacturing operations were performed by hu-
man computers who were trained in either mathematics or accounting and could
handle the calculations needed to support modern warfare.
There were thousands of these human computers employed by all of the bel-
ligerents since they all had needs for mathematical support. In the United States
and the United Kingdom, many of these human computers were women, because
in those days there was no equal pay for equal work.
However, the human mind, even aided by a mechanical adding machine, can
only process a few calculations per minute. Human computers cannot work around
the clock and they also need rest and meal breaks. When overworked, fatigue
would raise the probability of errors in manual calculations. It was obvious to mil-
itary and industrial planners that much faster and more reliable ways were needed