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| Friedrich W. Kistermann, "Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian Pioneer in Scientific Data Processing," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 62-68, October-December, 1999. | |||
| BibTex | x | ||
| @article{ 10.1109/85.801534, author = {Friedrich W. Kistermann}, title = {Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian Pioneer in Scientific Data Processing}, journal ={IEEE Annals of the History of Computing}, volume = {21}, number = {4}, issn = {1058-6180}, year = {1999}, pages = {62-68}, doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/85.801534}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA}, } | |||
| RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote | x | ||
| TY - MGZN JO - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing TI - Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888-1964): Czechoslovakian Pioneer in Scientific Data Processing IS - 4 SN - 1058-6180 SP62 EP68 EPD - 62-68 A1 - Friedrich W. Kistermann, PY - 1999 VL - 21 JA - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ER - | |||
A few years ago, I wrote a report about the development of the Hollerith Punched Card System. One section dealt with the application of punched cards in science and engineering. Looking at the literature of this field in Europe, I found the name of Leo Wenzel Pollak in Prague in the 1934
1. J.B.J. Fourier, Théorie analytique de la chaleur. Nouvelle edition. Breslau: G. Koebner, 1883 (reprint of first edition, 1822).
2. R.N. Bracewell, "The Fourier-Transform," Scientific Amer., vol. 260, no. 6, pp. 62-69, 1989.
3. A. Schuster, "On the Investigation of Hidden Periodicities With Application to a Supposed 26 Day Period of Meteorological Phenomena," Terrestrial Magnetism, vol. 3, pp. 13-41, 1898.
4. V. Conrad, "Der Expektanzbegriff von Arthur Schuster. Eine Anweisung zur quantitativen Abschauml;tzung gefundener und gesuchter Periodizitäten," Meteorologische Zeitschrift, vol. 59, pp. 299-306 and 389-390, 1924.
5. A few years before this, Professor Ludimar Hermann, then at the University of Königsberg in the province Prussia of the German Empire, developed and used calculating templates to ease speech analysis. This was not recognized for many years. See L. Hermann, "Verfahren zur harmonischen Analyse," Pflügers Archiv für gesamte Physiologie, 1890, pp. 45ff.
6. C. Runge, "Über die Zerlegung empirisch gegebener periodischer Funktionen in Sinuswellen," Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik, vol. 48, pp. 443-456, 1903.
7. C. Runge and E. Emde, Erläuterung des Rechenformulars zur Zerlegung einer empirisch gegebenen periodischen Funktion in Sinuswellen.Braunschweig, Germany: Vieweg, 1913.
8. F. Nebeker, Calculating the Weather: Meteorology in the 20th Century.San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1995.
9. A. Defant, Die Veränderungen in der allgemeinen Zirkulation der Atmosphäre in den gemäßigten Breiten der Erde. Sitzungs-Berichte. Wien: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 121, 1912, Abt. IIa (März).
10. L.W. Pollak, "Hilfsmittel zur Aufsuchung versteckter Periodizitäten sowie zur harmonischen Analyseüberhaupt," Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie, vol. 53, pp. 209-222, 1925.
11. A description of this calculator is given in E. Martin, Die Rechenmaschinen und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte.Pappenheim, Germany: Johannes Meyer, 1925. (Translated and edited by P.A. Kidwell and M.R. Williams, The Calculating Machines, 1992.) Martin's fine work ends in 1925. For detailed information about mechanical calculating machines and other calculating devices in the first half of the 20th century in Germany, see the following three journals: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde; Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen; and Allgemeine Vermessungs-Nachrichten. Reminder to the reader: The first table to be calculated using a mechanical calculating machine is Johann Helfrich Müller, Neue Tafeln welche den cubischen Gehalt und Werth des runden, beschlagenen und geschnittenen Bau- und Werkholzes enthalten, verfertigt mittelst der Müllerschen Rechenmaschine nebst einer Anweisung .... Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Varrentrapp und Wenner, 1788. The second table is for natural trigonometric values: August Junge, Tafel der wirklichen Länge der Sinus und Cosinus für den Radius 1 000 000 und für alle Winkel des ersten Quadranten von 10 zu 10 Secunden für ..., insbesondere für diejenigen, welche bei trigonometrischen Berechnungen die Thomas'sche Rechenmaschine benutzen. Leipzig, Germany: Arthur Felix, 1864. Junge used a Thomas Arithmometer.
12. Professor Dr. V. Conrad wrote to Pollak that he lost his self-calculated tables of this kind together with all his properties in 1919 when he had to flee from the University in Czernowitz because of the rising anti-Semitism during the romanization when the town of Czernowitz was ceded to Romania as a consequence of the Balkan states' reorganization after World War I. Conrad (born in 1876) had to flee again, when Austria was integrated in 1938 into the Nazi Reich. This time, Conrad moved to the United States, where he joined Harvard University from 1950.
13. L.W. Pollak, Rechentafeln zur Harmonischen Analyse.Leipzig, Germany: J.A. Barth, 1926.
14. C.F. Marvin, "Tables for Computing Harmonic Analysis," Monthly Weather Rev., p. 14, Jan. 1926; V. Conrad, Physikalische Berichte, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 14-15, 1926; P. Mildner, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, pp. 34-35, Jan. 1926; H. Rauschelbach, Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie, 1926, p. 323; A. Schroeder, Schiffbau, no. 11, p. 332, 1926.
15. Investigations of this kind have been done before and after Pollak's work. The earliest investigation I have found is reported by P.E. Klipstein in 1786. He gives detailed results of measurements by Johann Helfrich Müller (1746-1830) in Darmstadt, Germany. He was the builder of a famous mechanical calculating machine (1784).
16. L.W. Pollak, "Das Rechnen mit und ohne Maschine," Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde, vol. 47, pp. 340-357, 1927.
17. A.L. Crelle, Rechentafeln, welche alles Multiplizieren und Dividieren mit Zahlen unter Tausend ganz ersparen, bei größeren Zahlen aber die Rechnung erleichtern und sicherer machen. Neue Ausg. besorgt von O. Seeliger. Neudruck. Mit Tafeln der Quadrat- und Kubikzahlen von 1-1000. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter&Co., 1944.
18. L.W. Pollak, "Zur harmonischen Analyse empirischer, durch eine große Zahl gegebener Ordinaten definierter Funktionen," Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie, vol. 54, pp. 311-315, 344-349, and 378-384, 1926.
19. L.W. Pollak, Handweiser zur Harmonischen Analyse. Prag: Cechoslovakisches Statist. Staatsamt 1928. (Prager Geophysikalische Studien II)
20. L.W. Pollak, Die Perioden und das Periodogramm der internationalen erdmagnetischen Charakterzahlen, Cechoslovakische Statistik, vol. 64, 1930. (Prager Geophysikalische Studien III)
21. L.W. Pollak, "Verwendung statistischer Maschinen in der Klimatologie," Meteorologische Zeitschrift, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 296-300, 1927.
22. L.W. Pollak, "Über die Verwendung des Lochkartenverfahrens in der Klimatologie," Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde, vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 528-532, 1927.
23. L.W. Pollak, Charakteristika der Luftdruckfrequenzkurven und verallgemeinerte Isobaren in Europa. Prag: Statistisches Staatsamt 1927. 58 S., 11 Karten, 111 Häufigkeitstafeln (Prager Geophysikalische Studien I)
24. Convinced by the first successful application of punched cards and statistical machines, he made the proposal to use them in other scientific areas. In a publication, he proposed to transfer the Henry-Draper star catalog (225,305 stars) to punched cards and estimated this punch work to take around three months. L.W. Pollak, "Verwendung des Lochkartenverfahrens in der Stellarstatistik," Astronomische Nachrichten, vol. 233, no. 5,574, pp. 91-94, 1928.
25. G.H. Darwin, "Harmonic Analysis of Tidal Observations," British Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, Reports, 1884, 1885, 1886.
26. K. Stumpff, "Über die Verwendung des Darwinschen Schemas in der Periodogrammanalyse," Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, vol. 22, pp. 410-441, 1929.
27. If we assume a six-hour day, the punching took a little over 2.5 days, the processing almost two days.
28. At the very beginning of his work with punched cards, Pollak made an interesting statement: To avoid misunderstandings, it must be said that the application of punched cards to scientific data processing or calculations is not simply a transfer of the application to business data processing. The scientific user has to have an exact knowledge of the working of the statistical machines and must work closely together with the machine technicians. At first, a plan has to be made for the machine data processing of the always very great amount of data and the program for the machines also.
29. L.W. Pollak, "Das Periodogramm der internationalen erdmagnetischen Charakterzahlen," Zeitschrift für Geophysik, vol. 4, pp. 289-304, 1928.
30. K. Stumpff, Neue Analyse der Sonnenfleckenrelativzahlen nach der Schusterschen Methode. Prag: Statistisches Staatsamt, 1930. 54 S., 3 Taf. (Prager Geophysikalische Studien IV)
31. V. Conrad and L.W. Pollak, Methods in Climatology. Incl. Some Methods in General Geophysics, 2nd, revised and enlarged ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1962.
32. R. Berger, "Die Lochkartenmaschinen," Zeitung Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, vol. 72, S. 1799-1807, 1928.
33. L.W. Pollak, "Fortschritte in der Anwendung des Lochkartenverfahrens auf geophysikalische Probleme," Zeitschrift für Geophysik, vol. 5, pp. 33-36, 1929.
34. F.W. Kistermann, "Multiplication, Division, and Printing With Punched Card Machines," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 67-69, 1997.
35. Unfortunately, he gives no information of the location of the installation. But it must have been at the congress location, otherwise not all participants could have the chance to attend the demonstrations. It is also not known whether Hollerith and/or Powers machines were demonstrated. By the way, the very first exhibition and demonstration of the Hollerith Electric Tabulating System to experts/scientists happened during the Seventh National Convention of Chiefs and Commissioners of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor in the United States, 25-27 June 1889, in Hartford, Connecticut, which is reported by the Hartford Courant, a local newspaper.
36. L.W. Pollak, "Die Rationalisierung und Mechanisierung der Verwendung und Verrechnung geophysikalischen Zahlenmaterials," Naturwissenschaften, vol. 18, no. 16, pp. 343-349, 1930.
37. L.W. Pollak and F. Kaiser, "Neue Anwendungen des Lochkartenverfahrens in der Geophysik," Hollerith-Nachrichten, H. 44, pp. 574-584, 1934.
38. F.W. Kistermann:, "The Way of the First Automatic Sequence-Controlled Calculator: The 1935 DEHOMAG D11 Tabulator," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 2, Summer 1995, pp. 33-49.
39. J. Fuhrich, "Über die numerische Ermittlung von Periodizitäten und ihre Beziehungen zum Zufallsgesetz," Revue Statistique Tchécoslovaque (Prague), vol. 14, pp. 471-482, 1933.
40. Pollak mentions the freely given support of machines and manpower by Dr. Julius Polak, since 1927 the manager of MezinárondníSpolecnost Obchodnimi Stroji Spol. S.R.U., Prag, the wholly owned subsidiary of IBM U.S.A., which was earlier only an agency for the company. By the way, DEHOMAG in 1927 opened a branch office in Dresden.
41. L.W. Pollak and F. Kaiser, "Über die numerische Methode von J. Fuhrich zur Ermittlung von Periodizitäten, ihre Erprobung und Anwendung auf die Polbewegung," Statisticky Obzor, Prague, vol. 16, no. 1-3, 1935.
42. L.W. Pollak, "Das Periodogramm der Polbewegung," Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, pp. 108-194.
43. K. Stumpff, "Die Perioden der Polbewegung," Astronomische Nachrichten, vol. 23, no. 5,536, 1927.
44. The dissertations were conducted under the supervision of Professor Pollak in the Institute of Geophysics, Deutsche Universität, Prag. Johann Baur, Korrelation der monatlichen Anomalien der Lufttemperatur von Prag mit denen anderer Orte; nebst den harmonischen und korrelativen Konstituenten von 42 und 45 Stationen der ganzen Erde im Zeitraum 1887-1916; Hildegard Turba, Korrelation der jährlichen Anomalien der Lufttemperatur von Prag mit denen anderer Orte; nebst den harmonischen und korrelativen Konstituenten von 36 Stationen der ganzen Erde im Zeitraum 1887-1916; Otto Kohl, Die Praxis der harmonischen Analyse der Meeresgezeiten; Franz Kaiser, Erprobung der Korrelationsmethode von J. Fuhrich und ihre Anwendung auf die Analye der Polbewegung; Bruno Hanisch, Bestimmung von Sonnenfleckenperioden nach der Fuhrichschen Methode; Heinrich Ostermeyer, Neue Analyse der Polbewegung, insbesondere des Radiusvektors, nach der Fuhrichschen Methode; A. Hanel (Polbewegung; nach der Fuhrichschen Methode).
45. Other applications of the Fuhrich method: B. Hanisch, "Über die Bestimmung der Sonnenflecken-Perioden nach der Fuhrichschen Methode," Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, vol. 46, pp. 99-107, 1935; J. Hesse, "Über die Ermittlung der Brücknerschen Klimaperiode aus Seespiegelschwankungen nach der Fuhrichschen Methode," Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, vol. 51, pp. 29-34, 1937; Elsa Dostal, "Anwendung der Fuhrichschen Autokorrelationsmethode auf die Jahresmittel der Temperatur von Berlin," Gerlands Beiträge zur Geophysik, vol. 55, pp. 374-410, 1939; V. Conrad, "Investigations Into the Periodicity of the Annual Range of Air Temperature at State College, Pa.," Pennsylvania State College Studies, no. 8, 1940.
46. L.W. Pollak, "Über die Verwendung des Tonfilms zur Harmonischen Analyse," Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde, vol. 59, pp. 208-210, 1939.
47. L.W. Pollak, "On Cycles of Pressure Especially in the Neighbourhood of Symmetry Points," Quarterly J. Royal Meteorological Soc., vol. 66, p. 460, 1940.
48. M.C. George, "An Annotated Bibliography of Some Early Uses of Punched Cards in Meteorology and Climatology," Bull. Amer. Meteorological Soc., vol. 26, pp. 76-85, 1945.
49. L.W. Pollak, "Further Remarks on Early Uses of Punched Cards in Meteorology and Climatology," Bull. Amer. Meteorological Soc., vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 195-199, 1946.
50. In 1962, V. Conrad was 86 years of age; L.W. Pollak was 74 years.
51. H. Landsberg, "Review of W.J. Eckert's Punched-Card Methods in Scientific Computations," Bull. Amer. Meteorological Soc., vol. 23, pp. 346, 1942.
52. Extended tables: L.W. Pollak (and C. Heilfron), Harmonic Analysis and Synthesis Schedules for Three to One Hundred Equidistant Values of Empiric Functions. Dublin: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1947. L.W. Pollak (and U.N. Egan), All Term Guide for Harmonic Analysis and Synthesis Using 3 to 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36, 42, 44, 46, 52, 60, 68, 76, 84 and 92 Equidistant Values. Dublin: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1949. L.W. Pollak (and U.N. Egan), Eight-Place Supplement to Harmonic Analysis and Synthesis for Three to One Hundred Equidistant Values of Empiric Functions. Dublin: Dublin Inst. for Advanced Studies, School of Cosmic Physics, 1949. L.W. Pollak, Eight-Place Supplement to Harmonic Analysis and Synthesis for Three to One Hundred Equidistant Values of Empiric Functions, 2nd ed. Dublin: Dublin Inst. for Advanced Studies, School of Cosmic Physics, 1954.
53. L.W. Pollak, "Conversion of Hollerith Punched Card Machines for Use of Unpunched Cards," Archiv für Meteorologie, Geophysik und Bioklimatologie, vol. B2, pp. 462-467, 1950/1951.
54. J.C. Poggendorffs, Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch der exakten Naturwissenschaften, vol. 6, part 3 (1923-1931). Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1938, pp. 2,043-2,044.
55. Pollak's wife, Dr. Johanna Pollak, née Dittrich, worked at this school as a professor (Gymnasial-Professor) also.
56. L.W. Pollak, "Statistik der Brandspuren des Sonnenscheinautographen," Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 1913.
57. J.C. Poggendorffs, Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch der exakten Naturwissenschaften, vol. 7a(1932-1953), part 3. L-R; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1959, pp. 605-606.
58. L.W. Pollak, "Über die Lamontsche Korrektur. Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie," vol. 51, pp. 234-239, 1923.
59. Another chance that Pollak got aware of the Hollerith punched card system, at least early in 1927, could be the 1906 book Vorlesungenüber Mathematische Statistik by Ernst Blaschke in Wien, published by B.G. Teubner at Leipzig, which gives information about K. Gore's punch and sorter and Hollerith's 1890 Census machine.
60. R. Siksna, "The 0 (Zeroth) International Symposium on the Condensation Nuclei—in Memory of L.W. Pollak," Journal de Recherches Atmosphériques, vol. 2, no. 2-3, pp. 51-52, 1966.
61. Difficulties in Establishing Applied Mathematics: A. Herman, Sommerfeld und die Technik, Technikgeschichte, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 311-322, 1967; K.H. Manegold, Felix Klein als Wissenschaftsorganisator. Ein Beitrag zum Verhältnis von Naturwissenschaft und Technik. Technikgeschichte, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 177-204, 1968; S. Hensel, K.-N. Ihmig, and M. Otte, Mathematik und Technik im 19. Jahrhundert in Deutschland. Soziale Auseinandersetzung und philosophische Problematik. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 1989; A. Walther, Moderne mathematische Maschinen und Instrumente und ihre Anwendungsmöglichkeit auf Probleme des Stahlbaus. In: Deutscher Stahlbau-Verband (ed.), Stahlbau-Tagung München, 1952, pp. 144-197.