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From: wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil (Will Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: 50th Anniversary of Data Communications!
Message-ID: <12009@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 10 Sep 90 16:55:43 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 636, Message 1 of 11


Just heard the following on the Voice of America's "Communications
World" program (the best airing of that for North American listeners
is at 2110 GMT Saturdays on 15410 and 15580 kHz):

Sunday, Sept. 9th, 1990 was the 50th Anniversary of Data
Communications.

On Sept. 9, 1940, Dr. George Stibbetts [sp? just heard it pronounced],
of Dartmouth University, at a meeting of two [unnamed] mathematical
societies at that campus, demonstrated the first recorded instance of
computer data transmission over telephone lines, from New Hampshire to
New York City. He entered, from Dartmouth, instructions to a computer
in NYC to divide two eight-digit numbers, and received the answer back
in 30 seconds. (No information was given in this item as to the nature
of the "computer" he was using in 1940, nor the terminal equipment,
nor the "modem" or equivalent, nor the communications protocol used.)

Dr. Stibbetts is still alive, a Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth, and
was briefly inverviewed regarding this event. He reported that the
attendees at his demo were not overly impressed with the feat, and
there was no inkling then of the future of datacomm as we know it
today.

Regards, 

Will Martin