BLANCH,GERTRUDE OF THE MATHEMATICAL TABLES PROJECT

Gertrude Blanch can be viewed as either the last and most important le ader of human computers or one of the first numerical analysts for ele ctronic computers. From 1938 to 1948, she was the technical director o f the Mathematical Tables Project, the largest and most sophisticated of the human computing groups. During that period, she organized the l iterature of computing and numerical analysis. After the Mathematical Tables Project became the Computation Laboratory of the National Burea u of Standards, Blanch went on to develop numerical analysis for the e arly computers, working first for the Institute for Numerical Analysis , next for the computer division of Consolidated Engineering (later El ectroData), and finally for the Air Force's Aeronautical Research Labo ratory in Dayton, Ohio.