Contents
INTRODUCTIONA Grandmother’s Secret Life
1
PART I: Astronomy and the Division of Labor 1682–1880
9
CHAPTER ONEThe First Anticipated Return: Halley’s Comet 1758
11
CHAPTER TWOThe Children of Adam Smith
26
CHAPTER THREEThe Celestial Factory: Halley’s Comet 1835
46
CHAPTER FOURThe American Prime Meridian
55
CHAPTER FIVEA Carpet for the Computing Room
72
PART II: Mass Production and New Fields of Science 1880–1930
89
CHAPTER SIXLooking Forward, Looking Backward: Machinery 1893
91
CHAPTER SEVENDarwin’s Cousins
102
CHAPTER EIGHTBreaking from the Ellipse: Halley’s Comet 1910
119
CHAPTER NINECaptains of Academe
126
CHAPTER TENWar Production
145
CHAPTER ELEVENFruits of the Conflict: Machinery 1922
159
PART III: Professional Computers and an Independent Discipline 1930–1964
175
CHAPTER TWELVEThe Best of Bad Times
177
CHAPTER THIRTEENScientific Relief
198
CHAPTER FOURTEENTools of the Trade: Machinery 1937
220
CHAPTER FIFTEENProfessional Ambition
233
CHAPTER SIXTEENThe Midtown New York Glide Bomb Club
256
CHAPTER SEVENTEENThe Victor’s Share
276
CHAPTER EIGHTEENI Alone Am Left to Tell Thee
298
EPILOGUEFinal Passage: Halley’s Comet 1986
318
Acknowledgments
323
Appendix: Recurring Characters, Institutions, and Concepts
325
Notes
333
Research Notes and Bibliography
373
Index
401
Illustration Credits
412