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Leslie Comrie

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Leslie John ComrieFRS[1](15 August 1893 – 11 December 1950) was anastronomerand a pioneer inmechanical computation.

Leslie Comrie
FRS
Born(1893-08-15)15 August 1893
Pukekohe,New Zealand
Died11 December 1950(1950-12-11)(aged 57)
NationalityNew Zealand
Alma materAuckland University College
Known forEphemeriscalculation automation
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society[1]
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy

Life

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Leslie John Comrie was born inPukekohe(south ofAuckland),New Zealand,on 15 August 1893. He attendedAuckland University College(part of theUniversity of New Zealand) from 1912 to 1916, graduating with BA and MA degrees with Honours inChemistry.[2]DuringWorld War I,despite severe deafness, he saw action in France with theNew Zealand Expeditionary Force,and lost his left leg in February 1918 to a British shell.[3]While convalescing, he started using amechanical calculatorand went on to modify commercial calculators for specific projects.

Having joined while in school in New Zealand,[4]Comrie was eventually the first director (1920–1922) of the Computing Section of theBritish Astronomical Association.In 1923 he received a PhD fromSt John's Collegeof theUniversity of Cambridge.He travelled to the United States to teach atSwarthmore CollegeandNorthwestern Universityin 1924, where he also pioneered the teaching ofnumerical analysis.He returned to England to join theHM Nautical Almanac Officeat theRoyal Greenwich Observatory,where he became deputy superintendent in 1926.[5]

His articleOn the Construction of Tables by Interpolationwas published in April 1928, and described the use ofpunched cardequipment forinterpolatingtables of data, in contrast to the more inefficient and error-prone methods involving mechanical devices like thepinwheel calculatorsunder theBrunsvigabrand name. In the same year, he became the first person to use punched card equipment for scientific calculations, by usingFourier synthesisto compute the principal terms in the motion of theMoonbetween 1935 and 2000 (improving upon the predictions ofErnest William Brown). Wallace J. Eckert,an American student of Brown atColumbia University,would later useIBM's vast computational resources to refine the predictions even further.[6]

He was promoted to Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac Office in 1930. However, his unconventional use of machines for calculation caused tensions with his superiors, and he was suspended in August 1936.[7]

Comrie founded in 1937 the world's first private company forscientific computing,incorporated as Scientific Computing Service, Limited.[8][9] DuringWorld War II,he headed a team of 30 scientists to computerize war work, such as the creation of bombing tables for theAllies of World War II.He later used this technology to computerize British football pools.

After the war, Comrie visited the United States and New Zealand in 1948.[10] Comrie was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Societyof London in March 1950.[1]

Comrie is also remembered for his work in astronomy, as he published both scientific and popular articles on subjects ranging from predictingeclipsesto thegreen flash.He died on 11 December 1950 at age 57, following a series of strokes. A lunar crater (23.3N 112.7W) and anasteroid,3521 Comrie,bear his name, as does the computer lab at the University of Auckland, which was named on the 50th anniversary of his death.[2]

Publications

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  • Comrie, L. J.; Levin, A.E. (1921)."Eclipse of Rhea by the shadow of Titan".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.81(7): 486–487.Bibcode:1921MNRAS..81..486C.doi:10.1093/mnras/81.7.486.
  • Comrie, L. J. (1928)."On the construction of, by interpolation tables".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.88(6): 506–523.Bibcode:1928MNRAS..88..506C.doi:10.1093/mnras/88.6.506.
  • "1928 March 9 meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society".The Observatory.81:105–106. 1928.Bibcode:1928Obs....51..105.
  • —— (1932)."The application of the Hollerith tabulating machine to Brown's tables of the moon".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.92(7): 694–707.Bibcode:1932MNRAS..92..694C.doi:10.1093/mnras/92.7.694.
  • —— (1933)."The computation of total solar eclipses".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.93(3): 175–181.Bibcode:1933MNRAS..93..175C.doi:10.1093/mnras/93.3.175.
  • —— (1933)."The total solar eclipse of 1940 October 1".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.93(3): 181–184.Bibcode:1933MNRAS..93..181C.doi:10.1093/mnras/93.3.181.
  • —— (1937). "The application of the Brunsviga twin 13Z calculating machine to the Hartmann formula for the reduction of prismatic spectrograms".The Observatory.60:70–73.Bibcode:1937Obs....60...70C.
  • Comrie, L. J.; Burrough, S. M. (December 1941). "Line of Planets".Popular Astronomy.49:397–398.Bibcode:1941PA.....49..397C.
  • Comrie, L. J. (December 1942)."Errors in Mathematical Tables".Nature.150(3816): 738.Bibcode:1942Natur.150..738C.doi:10.1038/150738b0.
  • —— (December 1949). "The Green (?) Flash (?)".Popular Astronomy.57:42–43.Bibcode:1949PA.....57...42C.

Obituaries

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References

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  1. ^abcMassey, H. S. W.(1952). "Leslie John Comrie. 1893–1950".Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society.8(21): 96–107.doi:10.1098/rsbm.1952.0006.JSTOR768801.S2CID120889334.
  2. ^abGarry Tee."Comrie Lecture 2000".Department of Mathematics at the University of Auckland.Retrieved4 June2010.
  3. ^Martin Campbell-Kelly;Mary Croarken;Raymond Flood(2003).The History of Mathematical Tables.Oxford University Press.p. 137.ISBN978-0-19-850841-0.
  4. ^Hockey, Thomas (2009).The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.Springer Publishing.ISBN978-0-387-31022-0.Retrieved22 August2012.
  5. ^"Obituary: Leslie John Comrie".The Observatory.Vol. 71. 1951. pp. 24–26.Bibcode:1951Obs....71...24.Retrieved4 June2010.
  6. ^Frank da Cruz."Professor Wallace J. Eckert".A Chronology of Computing at Columbia University web site.Columbia University.Retrieved5 June2010.(includes photographs, references and bibliography)
  7. ^"Papers of Leslie John Comrie".Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives.Retrieved4 June2010.
  8. ^"NAHC/SCS Scientific Computing Service Ltd"(PDF).UK National Archive for the History of Computing.University of Manchester Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. p. 106. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 25 July 2011.Retrieved4 June2010.
  9. ^Croarken, Mary(1999). "Case 5,656: L.J. Comrie and the origins of the Scientific Computing Service Ltd".IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.21(4): 70–71.doi:10.1109/MAHC.1999.801536.S2CID22818807.
  10. ^Ivan Leslie Thomsen (1966). A. H. McLintock (ed.)."Comrie, Leslie John, F.R.S. (1893–1950)".An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.Retrieved4 June2010.
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