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LINC: biology's revolutionary little computer
1History of Science Program, Princeton University, 209 Dickinson Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. november@princeton.edu
Endeavour
|September 8, 2004
Abstract:
The 1963 LINC (Laboratory INstrument Computer) stands at the center of two stories: the computerization of the biologist's laboratory and the advent of small-scale computing. The brainchild of Wesley Clark, 'the most brilliant computer designer of his generation', LINC was developed specifically to address the failure of biologists to adopt computer technology. To meet their unique needs, Clark built a machine the radical design of which defied and subverted the then dominant conventions of computer architecture.