Computer to Let CEA Test Work Still in Progress

Scientists at the Cambridge Electron Accelerator will for the first time get a detailed look at their experiments while they are in progress, when a new computer is installed at the Computation Center in January.

"The new monitoring set-up," Dr. Norman Zachary, director of the Center, said, "will enable scientists to observe the effects of changed conditions or single out interesting phenomena while the experiment is running."

Wait in Line No More

Under the existing system, experimental data is recorded on what Zachary called "home-made electronic devices" and analyzed later on a computer. If something goes wrong early in a 5 or 6-hour exeriment, it will not be detected until the accelerator is turned off.

And if the experiment produces unexpected results, the scientist currently must wait in line to use the accelerator to reproduce the conditions for closer study.

'Logical Construction'

To correct these problems, the Center has ordered an IBM 360/50. The computer, which will be linked to the accelerator through a cable, was chosen because it can handle input-output devices like magnetic tapes and punch cards while it is performing computations.

Zachary said the computer's "logical construction" makes it possible to run as many as four experiments on it simultaneously

Mutual Protection

"We are trying to develop a program that will protect each experimenter from the other's mistakes," he said. "In the past one man could disrupt the computer's memory banks and ruin two or three other experiments."

Zachary explained that the 360/50, which costs commercial firms about $25,000 a month to lease, will be fed information by four smaller computers. "We hope to use more of these peripheral computers to give other parts of the University a 'porthole' on the computation center," Zachary said.