Most of us have grown so blase about computer developments and capabilities — even some that are spectacular — that it is difficult to believe or imagine there was a time when we suffered the noisy, painstakingly slow, electromechanical devices that chomped away on punched cards.

— Nicholas Metropolis, The beginning of the Monte Carlo method (1989)

From a 1989 collection of reflections on Stanislaw Ulam's life and legacy.

Topics: history of computing