Robert L. Hawkins
born circa 1914
Robert L. Hawkins was a technician who worked on the Mark I computer project.
Hawkins was born in Antrim, New Hampshire. After high school, he took a course on "Electrical Construction" at Wentworth Academy in Boston, graduating in 1934. After graduation, he worked in the machine shop of the Physics Labs of Harvard University under Professor G. W. Pierce.
In 1940 he joined the Harvard Mark I project, and went out to the IBM laboratory in Endicott, New York, to work on the building of the machine there. He returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts to work on another wartime project during the final construction and testing of the Mark I at Endicott. When the computer was dismantled and shipped to Harvard in February 1944, Hawkins helped to reassemble it. He assumed a leading role in its maintenance after it was placed operation in March 1944.
Hawkins was born in Antrim, New Hampshire. After high school, he took a course on "Electrical Construction" at Wentworth Academy in Boston, graduating in 1934. After graduation, he worked in the machine shop of the Physics Labs of Harvard University under Professor G. W. Pierce.
In 1940 he joined the Harvard Mark I project, and went out to the IBM laboratory in Endicott, New York, to work on the building of the machine there. He returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts to work on another wartime project during the final construction and testing of the Mark I at Endicott. When the computer was dismantled and shipped to Harvard in February 1944, Hawkins helped to reassemble it. He assumed a leading role in its maintenance after it was placed operation in March 1944.
Robert L. Hawkins, OH 64. Oral history interview by William Aspray, 20 February 1984, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Available online <a href="http://special.lib.umn.edu/cbi/oh/display.phtml?id=33" target="_blank">here</a>.