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About the seminar
The Argus computer was developed at Ferranti's Wythenshawe Automation Division by a very small team of engineers and was announced in November 1958.
Argus came into simultaneous civilian and military use for process control at ICI and as part of a Cold War missile guidance system for the Bloodhound Mark 2 used by the Royal Air Force. This computer was, at the same time, both a secret weapons system and the focus of a technically powerful group of civilian users who led development of the Argus for process control. Official secrecy allowed free exchange of ideas among those with security clearance. A wider over-lapping community of practitioners also emerged around software and instrumentation for the Argus. Paradoxically, Argus was both part of the closed world of Cold War weaponry and the focus of an open network of innovators.
Argus is one example of the ambiguous and fractured development of process control technology during the Cold War. This rapid technical development defies simple notions such as "spin out" technology. The talk will also show how the Ferranti Automation Division learned how to market and support a product in cost-conscious civilian markets.
About the speaker
Jonathan Aylen is Senior Lecturer and director of External Relations at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. He won a Partnership Trust Award for innovative teaching in economics and was joint winner of the Williams Prize of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in 2007.
He has recent publications on the history of technology, including process control computers - click here for more on his work and interests.
Background
For more about the hardware and use of the family of Ferranti Argus computers see the Argus Wikipedia entry.
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