annotate CR_preface.txt @ 16:2a14525c412e

getting to MIT...
author Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
date Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:46:58 -0400
parents 491d1952263d
children 2b61f4d08893
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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1 Born December 1949.
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2
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3 After starting a degree at Oberlin in 1967, dropped out without
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4 completing 3rd year.
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5
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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6 Out to BC with Katy in the fall of 1969, back to Cambridge and
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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7 Philadelphia to see respective families.
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8
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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9 Had to get out of the US (draft), so that winter took over the old job
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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10 of his brother Arnold in an NRC high-energy Physics lab, living with
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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11 Katy and Arnold in an old farmhouse in a posh neighbourhood in Ottawa.
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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12 Very snowy winter, record-breaking, 18 feet?, long driveway and a lot
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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13 of shovelling, piled up to the 2nd floor. Involve with Ottawa QUaker
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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14 Meeting, a youth group, and a Mennonite youth group. Stayed through
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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15 the several years. March 1971, employer partnering with the Univ. of
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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16 Chicago Physics dept and LRL in Berkeley, went there, installed a
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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17 PDP-9 / 15, in a 40-ft Fruehof trailer, moved from Ottawa to Fermi
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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18 Lab, where Brian's office was. Programmed in machine language (see
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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19 below). He could 'program like crazy' in the air-conditioned trailer,
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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20 high-volume music in head-phones, but couldn't write English. Lived
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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21 in a hotel in Hyde ? park. They owned an Austin Mini bought for $100
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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22 in summer of 1970, working at a Quaker peace conference on Rhinestone
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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23 island in lake near Ottawa.
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25 Katy went out to Berkeley that spring, where the experiment was to
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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26 take place. Married in June of 1971 at Pendle Hill / Swarthmore, then
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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27 back to Berkeley. Lived in a back yard house at Telegraph and Shannon
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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28 (?). Legally a Canadian resident notionally in US on a business trip.
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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29 Experiment ran, wrapped and went back to Ottawa. He wanted to stay in
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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30 US, they ended up (autumn 1971? 1972?) living with his parents in
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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31 Cambridge, where WCS was by then head of the new Center for the Study
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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32 of World Religions at Harvard.
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33
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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34 Applied to Graduate School at MIT in EECS, started taking some
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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35 courses, but eventually MIT admin said be couldn't be admitted w/o a
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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36 UG degree.
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37
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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38 "Course on compilers, I had written a compiler, I'd written a tiny OS
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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39 for a PDP-9 running a physics experiment". Pat Winston sat me down
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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40 and took me through the requirements for a CSEE degree, and decided
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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41 he'd satisfied them all. But he needed a Batchelor's thesis, so they
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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42 took a paper from a course he'd taken in the autumn, called "Comments
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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43 on Comments", and added some stuff, it got marked and accepted as his
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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44 thesis, so awarded the degree and could actually be enrolled as a
2a14525c412e getting to MIT...
Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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45 student under the supervision of Peter Szolovits. The Media Lab was
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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46 located in MIT's Building 20, just underneath the Artificial
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Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
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47 Intelligence Lab, then under the direction of ??.
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48