Calvin Mooers
Encyclopedia
Calvin Northrup Mooers was an American
computer scientist
known for his work in information retrieval
and for the programming language TRAC
.
Mooers was a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota
, attended the University of Minnesota
, and received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1941. He worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
from 1941 to 1946, and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, where he earned a master's degree in mathematics and physics. At M.I.T. he developed a mechanical system using superimposed code
s of descriptors for information retrieval called Zatocoding. He founded the Zator Company in 1947 to market this idea, and pursued work in information theory
, information retrieval
, and artificial intelligence
.
He coined the term "information retrieval
" using it first in a conference paper presented in March 1950.
He coined "Mooers' Law
" (not to be confused with Moore's Law
) and its corollary in 1959:
He founded the Rockford Research Institute in 1961, where he developed the TRAC programming language
, and attempted to control its distribution and development using trademark law and a unique invocation of
copyright. (At the time patent law would not allow him to control what he saw as his intellectual property
and profit from it.) The trademark strategy was later used by Ada.
Mooers received the American Society for Information Science's Award of Merit in 1978. The citation reads in part:
Mooers died in 1994 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Mooers' article critical of John Vincent Atanasoff
and his brief tenure as chief of a failed computer construction project at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
during World War II
was published posthumously in the May–June 2001 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
.
His daughter Edith was on the original incarnation of ZOOM on PBS.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
known for his work in information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
and for the programming language TRAC
TRAC programming language
TRAC is a programming language developed in the early 1960s by Calvin Mooers. It was one of three "first languages" recommended by Ted Nelson in Computer Lib....
.
Mooers was a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, and received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1941. He worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory , now disestablished, formerly located in White Oak, Maryland was the site of considerable work that had practical impact upon world technology. The White Oak site of NOL has now been taken over by the Food and Drug Administration.-History:The U.S...
from 1941 to 1946, and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, where he earned a master's degree in mathematics and physics. At M.I.T. he developed a mechanical system using superimposed code
Superimposed code
A superimposed code such as Zatocoding is a kind of hash code that is popular in marginal punched-card systems.- marginal punched-card systems :Many names, some of them trademarked, have been used for marginal punched-card systems:...
s of descriptors for information retrieval called Zatocoding. He founded the Zator Company in 1947 to market this idea, and pursued work in information theory
Information theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
, information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
, and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
.
He coined the term "information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
" using it first in a conference paper presented in March 1950.
He coined "Mooers' Law
Mooers' Law
Mooers' Law is an empirical observation of behavior made by American computer scientist Calvin Mooers in 1959. The observation is made in relation to information retrieval and the interpretation of the observation is used commonly throughout the information profession both within and outside its...
" (not to be confused with Moore's Law
Moore's Law
Moore's law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware: the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years....
) and its corollary in 1959:
- An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have it.
- Where an information retrieval system tends not to be used, a more capable information retrieval system may tend to be used even less.
He founded the Rockford Research Institute in 1961, where he developed the TRAC programming language
TRAC programming language
TRAC is a programming language developed in the early 1960s by Calvin Mooers. It was one of three "first languages" recommended by Ted Nelson in Computer Lib....
, and attempted to control its distribution and development using trademark law and a unique invocation of
copyright. (At the time patent law would not allow him to control what he saw as his intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
and profit from it.) The trademark strategy was later used by Ada.
Mooers received the American Society for Information Science's Award of Merit in 1978. The citation reads in part:
- He was a participant in early developmental work on digital computers, a researcher, author, and implementer of applications in information retrieval; and a prophet in the 1950s describing the future importance of what is now called computer networkComputer networkA computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
s and distributive processing, and daring to predict that machines could simulate thought processes in retrieving computerized information. In 1947, he proposed the Zator, an electronic, film-scanning retrieval machine, and made the first proposal to use the Boolean operations or, and, and not to prescribe selections in retrieval machines. He developed his own Zatocoding System in 1948 using superimposed subject codesSuperimposed codeA superimposed code such as Zatocoding is a kind of hash code that is popular in marginal punched-card systems.- marginal punched-card systems :Many names, some of them trademarked, have been used for marginal punched-card systems:...
on edge-notched cardEdge-notched cardEdge-notched cards, or McBee cards, were a manual data storage and manipulation technology invented in 1896 and used for specialized data storage and cataloging applications through much of the 20th century...
s. He coined the term "Information Retrieval" in 1950, and went on from there to obtain several patents in information retrieval and signaling, produce a text-handling language (TRAC), author some 200 publications, and form one of the first companies whose only concern was information. His thinking has affected all who are in the field of Information and his early ideas are now incorporated into today's reality.
Mooers died in 1994 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Mooers' article critical of John Vincent Atanasoff
John Vincent Atanasoff
John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor.The 1973 decision of the patent suit Honeywell v. Sperry Rand named him the inventor of the first automatic electronic digital computer...
and his brief tenure as chief of a failed computer construction project at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory , now disestablished, formerly located in White Oak, Maryland was the site of considerable work that had practical impact upon world technology. The White Oak site of NOL has now been taken over by the Food and Drug Administration.-History:The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was published posthumously in the May–June 2001 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
The IEEE Annals of the History of Computing is a quarterly journal published by the IEEE Computer Society. It contains peer-reviewed articles and other contributions on the history of computing, computer science and computer hardware by computer scientists and historians...
.
His daughter Edith was on the original incarnation of ZOOM on PBS.
External links
- Calvin N. Mooers Papers, 1930-1992 at the Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota. - Oral history interview with Calvin N. Mooers and Charlotte D. Mooers at the Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
. Interview discusses information retrieval and programming language research from World War II through the early 1990s.