The
Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections,
is pleased to announce the exhibition The Rise and Fall
of the Slide Rule: 350 Years of Mathematical Calculators. This
exhibition illustrates the history of the slide rule, from its
use as a tool to calculate logarithms in the seventeenth century,
through its demise in the 1960s and 1970s with the invention
of the electronic calculator. The Rise and Fall of the Slide
Rule will be on view at Stanford University’s Cecil
H. Green Library, Peterson Gallery, second floor of the Bing
Wing from June 30 through October 9, 2005. The exhibition is
free and open to the public.
In the 1620s, William
Oughtred (1574–1660), a respected mathematician, set two
straight edges side-by-side, forming the first rectilinear slide
rule. Oughtred took his cue from the invention of logarithms—a
special class of arithmetical functions invented in 1614 by
John Napier (1550–1617), a Scottish theologian and mathematician.
The Rise and
Fall of the Slide Rule shows that as the Industrial Age
developed, the use and popularity of the slide rule gradually
increased. By the first half of the last century, the slide
rule had become the calculating instrument of choice among thousands
of scientists, engineers, technicians and others who routinely
made mathematical computations in their daily work.
With the introduction
of the electronic pocket calculator in the 1960s, and especially
when Hewlett Packard’s HP-35 version hit the market, the
slide rule’s 350-year reign as a portable calculating
device came to an end.
Within the last fifteen
years, however, slide rules have been "rediscovered"
and are currently pursued as antiques.
To narrate the history
of the slide rule, this exhibition will feature examples of
some of the earliest slide rules and calculating devices, such
as a wooden Everard-type slide rule created in 1693 and a modern
facsimile of Napier’s Bones—a set of calculating
rods considered by many to be the world’s first computer.
Refinements to slide rule design by manufacturers in France,
Germany, Japan, and the U.S. are highlighted, including some
examples of circular slide rules and slide rules made of bamboo
and other materials. This exhibition also showcases some of
the lesser-known applications of the slide rule, as special
versions of the tools have been used by British excise officers
to assess taxes on alcohol, chefs to resize recipes, the textile
industry to calculate cotton cloth production costs, and by
racing enthusiasts to calculate the performance of thoroughbreds
and greyhounds in races.
The exhibition is
curated by Thomas Wyman, Associate of the Stanford University
Libraries and president of The Oughtred Society—a group
dedicated to the history and preservation of the slide rule
and other mechanical calculators, and Robert K. Otnes, engineer
specializing in communication theory and editor of the Journal
of the Oughtred Society. All objects shown in this exhibition
are held within the private collections of the two curators.
LOCATION:
Peterson Gallery, Green Library
Bing Wing, Second Floor
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
After 4 p.m., M-F,
parking is free at most designated parking spaces at Stanford
including all permit and metered parking areas. Parking is free
on the weekends.
HOURS: The gallery
is accessible whenever Green Library is open and hours vary
with the academic schedule. For library hours, call 650-723-0931.
PLEASE NOTE: On Sundays, from August 15 through September 26,
2005, Green Library and the exhibit galleries will be closed.
Image: The RotoRule, developed by J. R. Dempster
in the early 1930s and marketed by Eugene Dietzgen, boasted
two spiral scales with the accuracy of a 50-inch slide rule.
