University calculators

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(12-19-2018 12:11 PM)pier4r Wrote:  I wonder how much hard work was lost due to work that lasted too long compared to the life of the person that was doing it.

It's better not to think about that... On the other hand, Kepler for example never got paid for doing astronomical science. He earned his living as an astrologer which in his days meant doing tedious manual calculations day after day. His astronomical observations were required to provide the necessary input. In his spare time he calculated and published astronomical tables also, but there was no way he could make a living from that alone. Later in his life he even had a calculating machine made for himself by Wilhelm Schickard (a replica of which can be seen in the museum in "my" town where both of them spent part/all of their lifes). Unfortunaltely that machine was destroyed by fire before it could be delivered to Kepler, otherwise he may have solved some cosmic mysteries in the extra spare time it would have provided for him :-)

Myself I had to use the calculator (Ti59) a lot during my first two years at university (aerospace eng.). But not in the math courses, mostly in the laboratory practicums where we had to take measurements and evaluate the results. Calculator usage became less and less important after that and I can't remember touching it at all during the ph.d. years. But then we had proper computers to work with.

Regards
Max