Technical Proposal for Studies in the Analysis, Synthesis, and Simplification of Computer Circuits by ACF Electronics, Data Processing Department; Alonzo Church (his copy) - 1955

Washington, D. C.: ACF Electronics, 1955. Very Good condition. White plastic spiral binding in stiff blue card covers, with the title above and "ACF Electronics" printed on the cover. On the title page, Alonzo Church has written in red: "Appendic C briefly treats my 'resticted recursive arithmetic' and its applications to circuits. [initialled] A. C." Church is listed as "Consultant to the Department." in the section on "Specific personnel" (with résumé / curriculum vitae). There is a rusty paper clip on the page with his résumé and the on the first page of Appendic C. Appendix B: Digitalization of the Monadic Predicate Calculus by Sheldon B. Akers, Jr. Appendix C: "A Logical Arithmetic for Computer Circuits with Time Delays and Feedback." Appendix D: "Examples of Circuit Analysis." Appendix A: "Logic Machine and Its Aplications" is NOT bound in this copy. But it appears in a similar volume, offered separately, as section 1 under the title: "Digitalized Logic and Its Applications." This volume was among several dozen books from Alonzo Church's library that we were lucky enough to purchase at auction in New Jersey. Several of the books contain his signature, or a presentation inscription to him. Unfortunately, this volume does not have those signs of his ownership. [But please check our inventory for several others that do]. Alonzo Church (1903 - 1995) was professor of mathematics at Princeton University (1929-1967) and of mathematics and philosophy at UCLA (1967-1990). He was the founding editor of the JOURNAL OF SYMBOLIC LOGIC. Among his most influential contributions are Church's Theorem, Church's Thesis, and the Lambda Calculus. His work was of major importance in mathematical logic, recursion theory, theoretical computer science, and functional programming languages in general. Professor Church's creation of lambda calculus was the foundation for the LISP programming language and provided the semantic model for ALGOL. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, British Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Church is regarded by many as the greatest American logician of the 20th century. [For more on Church's contributions, see items 250, 251, 321, 394, and 533 in Hook and Norman's ORIGINS OF CYBERSPACE, A LIBRARY ON THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING...]. 9" wide by 11.5" tall. Keywords: Logic. Calculus. Pre-computer history. First Edition. Oversize Softcover (spiral). Very Good condition. Illus. by NOT a library discard. Paged irregularly (about 40 pages). Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.