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Summary: BEGINNING OF COMPUTING AND COMPUTER
SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Jack Minker
minker@cs.umd.edu
Department of Computer Science
and
Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
University of Maryland at College Park
College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.
January 8, 2004
ABSTRACT
Computing as a University of Maryland-wide activity started formally on February 1,1962 with the
hiring of Professor Werner C. Rheinboldt as Director of the Computer Science Center. This paper
traces the beginnings of computing at Maryland starting with the use of computers in the late
1940s and the first courses that taught computer programming. It describes the events leading to
the hiring of Rheinboldt, the formation of the Computer Science Center, Rheinboldt's objectives to
provide an outstanding computation facility, with research and educational components, and how
those objectives were achieved. It discusses the role of Mr. John Menard, Assistant Director of the
Computer Science Center and the accomplishments of Professor William F. Atchison as Director
of the Computer Science Center, following Professor Rheinboldt's resignation as Director in 1965.
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