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Title: Alfred E. Brenner papers
Identifier/Call Number: X7516.2015
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
5.63 Linear feet,
4 record cartons, 1 legal manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1980-2000
Date (inclusive): 1962-2010
Abstract: The Alfred E. Brenner papers, ranging in date from 1962 to 2010, contain technical and business documents pertaining to high
performance computers collected during Brenner's career at institutions such as Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the
Consortium for Scientific Computing, and the Institute for Defense Analyses. The majority of the collection was published
between 1980 and 2000 and consists of product brochures, data sheets, and product summaries. Other materials in the collection
include press releases, annual reports, news clippings, scholarly articles, technical reports, catalogs, presentation materials,
correspondence, and manuals. In addition to information about high performance computers and manufacturers, there are several
subject files on Soviet computing during the 1970s and 1980s.
Collection surveyed by Sydney Gulbronson Olson, 2018.
The collection is open for research. Please note that the collection may require review by CHM staff before viewing.
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
[Identification of item], [Date], Alfred E. Brenner papers, Lot X7516.2015, Box [#], Computer History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Alfred Brenner, 2014.
Alfred E. Brenner is a physicist and specialist in high performance computing who worked at institutions such as Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory, the Consortium for Scientific Computing, and the Institute for Defense Analyses over the course of
his career. Brenner earned a bachelor's degree in physics and a PhD in experimental high-energy physics, both from MIT. He
served on the physics faculty of Harvard University for eleven years, after which he became a Senior Scientist and Head of
the Computing Department at the Department of Energy's premier particle physics laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
(Fermilab) for fifteen years. He was the first president of the Consortium for Scientific Computing, the corporate parent
of the John von Neumann Center. Brenner joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) as the Director of Algorithms and
Applications Research at the Supercomputing Research Center, now the Center for Computing Sciences. He also served as both
a Project Leader and the Deputy Directory in the Information Technology and Systems Division at the IDA.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Alfred E. Brenner papers, ranging in date from 1962 to 2010, contain technical and business documents pertaining to high
performance computers, with the bulk published between 1980 and 2000. The majority of the collection consists of product brochures,
data sheets, and product summaries. Other materials in the collection include press releases, annual reports, news clippings,
scholarly articles, technical reports, catalogs, presentation materials, correspondence, and manuals. Brenner collected these
documents from the manufacturers of high performance computers through vendor meetings, conferences, and direct mail. He retained
them for use as reference files to determine the most appropriate computers to support his research. In addition to the files
grouped by company, there are a small amount of subject files on Soviet computing, which contain articles and brochures from
the 1970s and early 1980s.
The collection is arranged by company name in rough alphabetical order. Below is a listing of folder titles in the collection.
Box 1: Alliant, AMD, Amdahl, AMT, Apollo, Ardent, BBN, Burroughs ILLIAC IV, CDC (old), CDC [2 folders], Charles River Systems,
CHOPP, Compaq, Convex [2 folders], Cray Computer Corp., Cray Inc/SGI, Cray Inc/TERA, Cray Research/MMP
Box 2: Cray Research/MMP, SRC (Cray), Cray Research [6 folders], Culler Scientific Systems, Cydrome, Data General [2 folders],
DEC Alpha, DEC Communications, DEC Historical, DEC [2 folders], Denelcor
Box 3: Elxsi, ETA, Evans & Sutherland, Flexible, Floating Point Systems (FPS), Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi [2 folders],
IBM 3090, IBM RP3, IBM RS6000, IBM [3 folders], Intel – early Rattner HPC efforts, Japanese computers, Kendall Square Research
Box 4: Maspar, Multiflow, NCube, NEC [2 folders], SEL, Sequent, Soviet computers [3 folders], Robotron, Storage Tek, Sun,
Silicon Graphics, Texas Instruments/ASC
Box 5: Kendall Square Research, Tera [2 folders], Thinking Machines Corp (TMC)
Box 6: Xerox Data Systems (XDS), AstroNautics, HyperCube
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Computers--Soviet Union
High performance computing
Supercomputer industry
Trade literature