T INON CAMPUS FASTESBRA by RANDOLPH H. WALKER, '60
A stocky, cigar-smoking professor has the key to a room on the third floor of the School home of of Business Administration-the a mechanical genius whose influence is reaching almost every phase of University life. The keeper of the key is Professor Robert T . Partain, whose teaching duties include the care and feeding of a new 1620 IBM computer obtained by the University in a gian t stride toward keeping abreast of the newest methods of research and efficiency in today's atomic age. The $150,000 computer, acquired by the University at a 60 per cent discount, is a whirring, purring electrical marvel that, said Partain, "will not only perform administrative chores in a fraction of the time now used, but will make its greatest contribution in the fields of research." And the explanation of this statement was unfold ed in an interview that began in his office two floors below the chatter and . clatter of a very busy machine. Professor Partain stuck a lighted match to the stub of a cigar and wheeled around in his swivel chair to pluck a stack of IBM material off the window sill. "In the fields of physics and chemistry, for instance," he said, "scholars are faced with complicated mathematical formulas which require extensive computatio n. It has been tremendously time-consuming. But this computer can do one million computations in 20 seconds," he said. "To illustrate its potential another way, it can compute the square root of 1,000 ten digit numbers in less than one minute. It would take about a week to do it with pencil and paper, as a conservative guess," he said. "Computers don't have brains," he said. "But this computer, like all others, is more than a jet-age addition of the old crankhandled adding machine. It can add, subtract, divide and multiply by the use of electronic impulses, and it does more than that. It can scan data electronically and make decisions based on instruction given it by humans ." Partain speaks with authority on the subject of electronic computing. While teaching at Texas College of Arts and Industries he was commanding officer of the Naval Electronics Reserve Unit, and was trained in the field of electrical data processing. He took a three-year leave of absence from the Texas college in 1955 to head a production and control department for Celanese Corporation of America, which used a computer to solve production control problems . He joined the University of Richmond in July of 1963. Partain outlined some of the achievements
in the use of computers. The University of Pittsburgh has a project underway in which a computer is used to retrieve pertinent legal information. "Their computer is a little more complicated than ours because it can use magnetic tapes," he said, "but this illustrates what can be done with computers ." All the statutes of the state of Pennsylvania were coded and fed into the machine, and a battery of lawyers were invited to search the statutes by hand for certain specific information relevant to a given case. "The computer found 18 relevant statutes and the lawyers found none," said Partain . "Computers are being used to tabulate information on post-operative patients in hospitals," he said. Sensors are placed on or under the skin of a patient and attached to the computer. "The computer receives information through the sensors and provides doctors and nurses with the condition of the patient - including blood pressure, temperature and respiration," he said. He reached across the desk to a bookcase and fished out an inch-thick manuel. "And in here," he said tapping on the cover, "are more than 6,000 programs already developed by persons using IBM computers, and they are made available to us. The programs range from a tic-tac-toe game to
a program to plot the contours of constant response for a quadratic regression function. So we not only benefit by our own experience, but we can take advantage of everyone's experience with computers." Partain discussed some of the jobs done by the computer since it was installed at the University in February. Books in the library of the School of Business Administration are being catalogued. Questionnaires of a self-study program the University is doing are being tabulated and totaled. Dr. Emanuel Last, director of the Executive Development Program, is planning a computer program called the "Decision-maker," by which he can test executive decisions. The School of Business will register its students and record grades and class rolls on the computer. "This alone will save two do it in 30 months secretarial work-and minutes total running time," said Partain . He pointed out, however, that the Business School was stealing no march on Richmond College. "They've been using a computer downtown to do this work since 1961. Soon they will switch over to this one." As he talked he led the way up the steps to the 20' x 16' room which houses the computer. On two sides of the room are green "blackboards," both chalked with (Continued
on page 39)
The man in fron ,t of " The Brain " is Robert T. Partain who rides herd on the computer on the third Aoor of the School of Business Administration building.
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