harmonic analyzer
Date: 1947
Inventory Number: 1997-1-0251
Classification: Harmonic Analyzer
Subject:
Maker: Zdenek Trnka (1912 - 1968)
User: Howard H. Aiken (1900 - 1973)
Maker: Harvard Computation Laboratory (1944 - 1997)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
City of Use:
Dimensions:
closed: 17.8 × 30.5 × 35.1 cm (7 × 12 × 13 13/16 in.)
Accessories: instruction manual
Description:
Harmonic analyzer, contained in a wooden box and consisting of two parts: a moving coil voltmeter and a metal box with twenty-four numbered knobs. The voltmeter is contained within a black metal cylinder mounted in a black rectanglar metal base, and consists of a silver graduated ring the width of the black cylinder, to the right of which is a smaller gold and black cylinder. Several thin metal bars extend from a metal ring, adjacent to the graduated ring, to a similar metal ring on the other side of the smaller cylinder. The knobs on the metal box are black plastic with a gold colored metal circle on top. A two-pronged power cord is attached to the cylinder and draped across the metal box. There is a silver handle and a keyhole on the front of the wooden box.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedon box: HARMONIC ANALYZER / PRESENTED TO / HARVARD COMPUTATION LABORATORY / BY / PROF. DR. ZDENEK TRNKA / CESKA TECHNIKA PRAHA
FunctionThis harmonic analyzer was probably used in computation, for determining the phase and amplitudes of the fundamental and harmonic components of waveforms.
Historical AttributesAccording to Professor Dr. Zdenek Trnka's daughter, Eliška Kurzweil – Trnka, her father was travelling in the United States in the spring and summer of 1947 with Professor Antonin Svoboda, also from the Prague Technical University, to study emerging computing sciences. They visited various East Coast universities, including Harvard.
The date of Trnka's visit to Harvard University was August 5, 1947. The next day, Trnka
wrote a letter to his wife describing exactly when and how he presented and offered his analyzer to Professor Howard Aiken.
Here is an extract and translation from Czech by Eliška Kurzweil of her father’s letter of August the 6th,1947 to her mother:
“I had a beautiful day yesterday. In the morning I was at the Harvard University presenting my analyzer. Prof. Aiken decided that one table would be dedicated to the analyzer with the inscription: To Harvard University from prof. Zdeněk Trnka Praha, České vys. uč. techn . All hooks and commas will be preserved (Czech punctuation). He was moved when I offered him the analyzer, he was very happy with it. That's all. More when I return.”
The harmonic analyser was placed on exhibition in the Howard H. Aiken Computation Lab in the entrance area on the first floor adjacent to IBM Mark I computer. It remained there until 1997, when it was transferred to CHSI.
The date of Trnka's visit to Harvard University was August 5, 1947. The next day, Trnka
wrote a letter to his wife describing exactly when and how he presented and offered his analyzer to Professor Howard Aiken.
Here is an extract and translation from Czech by Eliška Kurzweil of her father’s letter of August the 6th,1947 to her mother:
“I had a beautiful day yesterday. In the morning I was at the Harvard University presenting my analyzer. Prof. Aiken decided that one table would be dedicated to the analyzer with the inscription: To Harvard University from prof. Zdeněk Trnka Praha, České vys. uč. techn . All hooks and commas will be preserved (Czech punctuation). He was moved when I offered him the analyzer, he was very happy with it. That's all. More when I return.”
The harmonic analyser was placed on exhibition in the Howard H. Aiken Computation Lab in the entrance area on the first floor adjacent to IBM Mark I computer. It remained there until 1997, when it was transferred to CHSI.
ProvenanceMade by Prof. Dr. Zdenek Trnka, Prague, about 1947; gift by Trnka to Howard H. Aiken, August 5, 1947; on display at the Harvard Computation Laboratory until March 13, 1997; transferred to the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments by Edward P. Jackson, Facilities Manager in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1997.
