RF Annual Report - 1935 - The Rockefeller Foundation

THE NATURAL SCIENCES 175
ditions of extreme pressure and high temperature,
such as exist deep in the earth. It has been
necessary to spend several years and considerable
sums of money in the development of specialized
and elaborate apparatus and in the training of
staff. The program has produced results of high
importance. The Foundation is protecting its
former investment and safeguarding the future
of this program by making a final grant.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Differentia] Analyzer
A project outside the concentrated program of
the division, but supported because of its unique
interest and importance to the whole broad field
of quantitative science, is the design and development
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
of an improved differential analyzer. To-5
ward the expenses of this undertaking during the
year beginning July 1, 1935, an appropriation of
$10,000 was made. The differential analyzer is
a device for the mechanical solution of differential
equations. It bears much the same relation
to scientific analysis that a computing machine
does to arithmetical work. The present differential
analyzer was produced at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology after a development
extending over eight years and involving
three successive models. The proposed new
analyzer will be a step forward in three aspects:
© 2003 The Rockefeller Foundation