From Whirlwind to Mitre: The R&d Story of the Sage Air Defense Computer

This book presents an organizational and social history of one of thefoundational projects of the computer era: the development of the SAGE(Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air defense system, from its first test atBedford, Massachusetts, in 1951, to the installation of the first unit of the NewYork Air Defense Sector of the SAGE system, in 1958. The idea for SAGE grew o

This book presents an organizational and social history of one of thefoundational projects of the computer era: the development of the SAGE(Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air defense system, from its first test atBedford, Massachusetts, in 1951, to the installation of the first unit of the NewYork Air Defense Sector of the SAGE system, in 1958. The idea for SAGE grew out ofProject Whirlwind, a wartime computer development effort, when the U.S. Departmentof Defense realized that the Whirlwind computer might anchor a continent-wideadvance warning system. Developed by MIT engineers and scientists for the U.S. AirForce, SAGE monitored North American skies for possible attack by manned aircraftand missiles for twenty-five years.Aside from its strategic importance, SAGE set thefoundation for mass data-processing systems and foreshadowed many computerdevelopments of the 1960s. The heart of the system, the AN/FSQ-7, was the firstcomputer to have an internal memory composed of "magnetic cores," thousands of tinyferrite rings that served as reversible electromagnets. SAGE also introducedcomputer-driven displays, online terminals, time sharing, high-reliabilitycomputation, digital signal processing, digital transmission over telephone lines, digital track-while-scan, digital simulation, computer networking, and duplexcomputing.The book shows how the wartime alliance of engineers, scientists, and themilitary exemplified by MIT's Radiation Lab helped to transform research anddevelopment practice in the United States through the end of the Cold Warperiod.