From research institute to computer company: Regnecentralen 1946-1964

Author

Klüver, Per V.

Author_Institution

Aarhus C, Denmark

Volume

21

Issue

2

fYear

1999

Firstpage

31

Lastpage

43

Abstract

Personal contacts between Danish and Swedish scientists played a major role in transferring computer technology to Denmark. The first Danish computer, DASK, was a result of that cooperation. (DASK is usually considered to be an acronym for Dansk Aritmetisk Sebens Kalkulator, but it originally meant “DAnsk version af BeSK”.) In order to build and run DASK, and for doing research in the computer field, Regnecentralen was founded. Caught between the commercialization of the computer market and the national government´s technocratic vision of a controlled development in the use of computers, Regnecentralen managed to survive, unlike most governmental agencies, playing a role in early computer development. This article tries to explain how and why this happened

Keywords

DP industry; computer science; government policies; history; mainframes; DASK; Danish computer; Danish computer scientists; Danish government; Denmark; Regnecentralen; Swedish computer scientists; commercialization; computer company; computer market; computer technology transfer; controlled development; early computer development; governmental agency; history; personal contacts; research institute; technocratic vision; Commercialization; Computer vision;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1058-6180

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/85.761793

Filename

761793