UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #571
DAVIDSON, CHARLES H.

DAVIDSON, Charles H. (1920- )
Graduate student; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Professor, Computer Sciences; Professor, General Engineering
At UW: 1941-1944; 1949-1987

Interviewed: 2001		 	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Childhood and education; American University; Graduate studies at UW; World War II; Physics department; Digital computer; Design features of digital computer; Engineering Computing Laboratory; WISC and IBM 1620; Early computer use among students; David Wilson; Gene Amdahl; Computer Aided Engineering Center; Office of Information Technology; Computer Science 132; Personal computers; Tad Pinkerton; Professional organizations; Extra-curricular activities; Square dancing.

First Interview Session (September 20, 2001): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:01	Interviewer’s introduction. 

00:00:27	Charles Davidson (CD) was born in Washington D.C.  He talks about his childhood and education.  

00:02:07	CD went to American University in Washington D.C. on a scholarship.  He talks about his college career and classes he took.  He discusses choosing to attend UW for graduate school as it was the only program to offer a teaching assistant position.

00:04:04	CD discusses life as a college student at the time of Pearl Harbor and being drafted into World War II.  After the war, he says, he worked for three years before returning to UW to work on his doctorate.

00:05:55	CD talks about the UW physics department's interest in nuclear physics.  Since he was not interested in nuclear physics he turned his attention to digital computers. 

00:08:17	Gene Amdahl helped CD with the building of a digital computer, he recalls.  He discusses the beginning steps of the building process and the joint presentation they gave to the electrical engineering group.

00:11:28	CD discusses his thesis on mathematical procedures and testing methods for an intermediate speed digital computer.

00:12:54	CD attended the Numerical Analysis Lab in Bascom Hall to learn about the use of the computer in solving mathematical problems while others went ahead with circuitry building. 

00:14:35	CD discusses Preston Hammer and their conflicts. 

00:16:44	CD describes the design features of his new computer including speed and functions.  He talks about the problem of fixed point operation with scaling and/or floating point operation.  He designed his computer to perform floating-point arithmetic automatically.    

00:20:22	Another unique feature, CD says, was the extract instruction.

00:21:21	CD talks about the actual building of the digital computer in 1952.  He was the head of the project and had an excellent staff of graduate students.  

00:26:23	CD discusses the use of his digital computer in the teaching of electrical engineering.  

00:27:24	CD talks about the beginning of the Engineering Computing Laboratory (ECL), his role as its director, and the computers purchased for this lab.  

00:30:50	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:30:53	CD discusses the job of teaching students to use computers.  He developed a set of tape-recorded lectures.  Some professors required students to attend these lectures. 

00:34:30	There was a higher proportion of students who used the computer compared to the faculty, CD mentions.  He says he had to teach the faculty the uses of the computer and advantages of it before they would agree to be taught how to use it.  

00:36:42	CD talks about Dean Kurt Wendt's contributions to widespread computer use at UW.  He talks about WISC and IBM 1620, two types of computer programs used at UW. 

00:39:02	CD talks about the fast-moving economy and how technology things became outdated.  Soon CD convinced the dean to upgrade to a punch card machine which was simpler and more powerful.  

00:41:41	At first, the ECL was used only by undergraduate students.  CD discusses the rules that needed to be enforced to allow graduate students and undergraduate students to use the lab together.  He tried to keep the ECL for the undergraduates because it was the only computing resource available to them.  

00:43:09	CD talks about TAs and assistants he had.  Joyce Fodor became the assistant director and took over some of his responsibilities. 

00:46:18	CD discusses the UW's inability to afford IBM 1620 computers which turned them to buying others like the Datacraft machine.  He talks about David Wilson and his contributions to the Datacraft machine.  

00:49:11	Over time, the ECL was moved to many different locations, CD says.  He talks about the new locations and the size of the WISC computer.

00:51:18	CD talks about Gene Amdahl and his work at IBM.  Amdahl started his own company and built the Amdahl computer, CD says.  

00:53:26	CD discusses the merging of his lab with the Data Acquisition and Simulation Laboratory which resulted in the Computer Aided Engineering Center (CAE).  He talks about becoming the director of the Office of Information Technology, presently DoIT.

00:57:02	CD continues to talk about the ECL and his involvement in a course, Computer Science 132: Digital Computers and Computing.  This class was designed by CD and a colleague to introduce students to computers. 

01:01:46	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:01:50	CD continues to discuss his computing courses. 

01:02:27	UW Extension arranged for CD to give lectures in their “Continuing Education” series. 

01:04:57	CD talks about what he was doing when personal computers (PCs) were introduced.  He says he stopped teaching classes around the time PCs were being built.  He talks about developing a teaching program for mechanical drawing.  

	CD discusses his involvement in the governor’s task force which looked at computerizing the Criminal Justice Information Center.  He says the idea never became anything more than an idea.

01:09:54	A visit to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland which CD took gave him the opportunity to teach courses on computers there, CD explains.  He talks about his association with Tad Pinkerton and the types of courses he taught.  

01:13:28	CD discusses his involvement and positions in the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Standards Association.  He was elected to lead a special interest group on computing center directors.     

01:20:39	CD talks about the campus groups he joined in which he tried to help students get more opportunities for computer usage.  He states that computers were only used for research; he wanted to expand the uses.  

01:22:37	CD discusses three engineering deans:  Kurt Wendt, Robert Marshall and John Bollinger, and their involvement in computers and instruction of computing.  He also discusses the chancellors and assistant chancellors and their support (or lack thereof) of computing and computer programs on campus.  

01:28:29	CD describes his retirement party, including the numerous people who spoke in praise of 	him.  

01:29:49	Extra-curricular activities and organizing these events occupied some of CD’s time.  He discusses the beginning of a water festival involving water skiing, paddling and swimming.  He also talks about his hobby of square dancing.  

01:33:18	End of side. 

Tape 2/Side 2

01:33:21	CD does a call for square dancing to music.  

01:34:30	End of side. End of tape.

END