Microelectronics by Scientific American, and

390 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Microelectronics. By Scientific American. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co., 1977. Pp. 145; 135 illustrations. $9.00 (clothbound); $4.95 (paperbound). George Seheutz and the First Printing Calculator. By Uta C. Merzbach. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, no. 36. Washing­ ton, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Pp. iii+74. “Microelectronics” is a reprint of the articles appearing in the Sep­ tember 1977 issue of Scientific American. It is one of a maze in the technical literature which has grown, along with books, in the last ten or fifteen years. To begin, there are three recent comprehensive overviews in English: “Microprocessor Technology and Applica­ tions,” Proceedings IEEE, vol. 64, no. 6 (June 1976); “Electronics” (cover), “Electronics Revolution” (inside), Science, vol. 195, no. 4283 (March 18, 1977); and “Microelectronics,” Scientific American, vol. 237, no. 3 (September 1977). Each of the above issues is devoted in its entirety to its topic, each overlaps to some extent the other two, each has some authors in common with the others, and each speaks pri­ marily to its own audience. The IEEE has previously had many pro­ fessional papers, the AAAS a few, and Scientific American fewer, which are reasonable considering the audiences. But Scientific Amer­ ican, with its public audience of about 500,000, has long excelled in its illustrations of its technical topics. In the present instance its illustra­ tions are excellent. “Miniaturization” began during World War II, under the impetus of the military. Likewise, there was a call for “ruggedization.” The one single circuit element that stood out as large and fragile was the vac­ uum tube. The picture changed drastically with the development of the transistor in the 1950s—a device small, rugged, and reliable. Uses in war material, aircraft, and computers immediately developed, and shortly after appeared in the work of NASA. Many other applications have followed. Use of a common substrate led to grouping circuit elements or their equivalents (except inductance) in various ways, and these “chips” were united on a common substrate. Meanwhile, the super­ miniaturization R & D continued until, in the early 1970s, a market­ able computer (minicomputer) resulted, using chips (about lxl inch) which would handle 4,000 bytes of memory. Further develop­ ment ran beyond the resolution of light waves, and electron beams came into play. The photolithographic process allowed remarkably fine separation of circuits, and today there is talk of 250,000 bytes storage and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) all on one chip of very small size. The new techniques yield results much cheaper, smaller, lighter, more rugged, and more reliable. When it is considered that a speck of dust may ruin a chip, the care needed in manufacturing is evident. The end seems far off, as application after application arises. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 391 A recent German book is devoted to use of microprocessors in the general field of automation and lists more than 200 references (virtu­ ally all in the last ten to fifteen years). The microprocessor represents virtually a quantum jump in en­ gineering electronics. To an interested person not in the field, the book Microelectronics is as good a place to start as any, but even it will not be easy reading. Just remember that the hand computer you bought in recent years has thousands of components within the cover, and the size of that cover was determined primarily by the size of your hand and fingers. George Scheutz and the First Printing Calculator is a welcome bridge in the history of computers, filling a gap between Babbage and later books on mechanical computers. The book is by no means a biog­ raphy but gives adequate space to the work of his son Edvard and to the important mechanical details which arose. George Scheutz was challenged by Babbage’s failure to make a dif­ ference engine operable. His background lay in industry, although he lived a life of many accomplishments, ranging from translation of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” into Swedish, to responsibility for the design and production of Sweden’s stamp issues (part time), much other printing, translations, and leadership in industry. His son took over much of the later work on

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