[Sci-tech-public] All about slide rules

[Deborah Douglas]

For those that want to get in touch with your "inner engineer", the 
MIT Museum will be hosting some interesting talks this Friday 
afternoon.

Seriously, Tom Wyman has written several articles on slide rule 
history and co-curated "The Rise and Fall of the Slide Rule: 350 
Years of Mathematical Calculators," an exhibition at Stanford 
University.  Prof. Joe Pasquale of UCSD's Department of Computer 
Science and Engineering is an MIT alumnus.  He teaches a fascinating 
freshman seminar on the slide rule and is exploring ways this 
historical instrument can be used to enhance contemporary engineering 
instruction.  (You can see more about his course at: 
http://www.cse.ucsd.edu/users/pasquale/Classes/wi06/SlideRule/).

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Debbie Douglas

All About Slide Rules
Friday, November 11, 2005  1:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Curious about slide rules?  Do you have an old one tucked away in a 
drawer?  Wonder why engineers no longer use them?  The MIT Museum and 
the Oughtred Society are pleased to present an afternoon of talks and 
show-and-tell in conjunction with the Society's 2005 Fall Meeting.  

*1:30 pm	"Yesterday's Calculator"  - Oughtred Society 
President Thomas Wyman will give his engaging talk on the 
four-hundred year history of the slide rule.  Large Conference Room

*2:30 pm	"The Slide Rule:  Calculating by Mind and Hand"  - 
MIT alumnus and professor of computer science at the University of 
California, San Diego, Joseph Pasquale revisits the art and science 
of slide rule operation and design.  He will explore some of the 
elegant underlying mathematical and computational properties of this 
remarkably simple yet powerful instrument and share insights from 
teach UCSD freshman how to use them!  Large Conference Room

*1:30 - 4:00 pm  Learn about slide rules with members of the Oughtred 
Society. (Named for William Oughtred who created the first slide rule 
in the 1620s.)  The collectors will have some of their rules to show 
and will happily talk with you about this fascinating instrument.  
Mind and Hand Gallery

-- 
Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D.
Curator of Science and Technology
MIT Museum, Building N52
265 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
tel. 617-253-1766
fax 617-253-8994
email ddouglas at mit.edu
http://web.mit.edu/museum
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