Colloquium Details
The University's 40 year old PDP-7 computer is alive again in Seattle
| Author: | Harlan W. Lefevre Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Oregon |
|---|---|
| Date: | January 13, 2011 |
| Time: | 15:30 |
| Location: | 220 Deschutes |
Abstract
In January 2006 I sent an e-mail to Paul Allen's website (PDPplanet.com) describing our Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-7 computer. I suggested that this computer, the last PDP-7 in operation in the world, should have a museum home. The PDPplanet people immediately came to see the machine and stated that they would keep it in operation if it came to their "Living Computer Museum". I will describe the two year bureaucratic struggle it took to transfer the computer to the museum. I'll then go back to the beginning: How did we acquire this remarkable computer, learn how to use it in nuclear spectroscopy, and have fun along the way.
Biography
Dr. Harlan Lefevre has been an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon since his retirement in 1998. Prior to that, Dr. Lefevre was a member of the Physics Department faculty for 37 years. While a professor he also worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the 1970s and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the 1980s. He was an NSF Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 1988.
Dr. Lefevre's research with his graduate students in nuclear physics was centered around a 4 MeV positive ion accelerator located in the basement of the UO Volcanology building. The accelerator was equipped with a pulser and a klystron buncher which delivered nanosecond wide bunches of MeV ions to neutron producing targets. Its primary use was neutron spectroscopy by time of flight. The PDP-7 was used mainly for data collection and display and analysis of time of flight spectra and other spectra.