COMRIE,  Leslie.  “The Application of Commercial Calculating Machines to Scientific Computing”.  Washington DC:  National Research Council,  1946.  1st edition.  Mathematical Tables and other Aids to Computation, II/16  Pp 149-196  8vo.  Original printed wrappers.  Very good condition.  Original owner’s name has been rubber stamped twice on the cover.  $250

This pamphlet is offered in its original green wrappers for the month of October 1946.  “Comrie pioneered the use of commercial accounting machines in scientific applications, especially in the production of mathematical tables. The above article describes the first use of a punched-card tabulating system in a purely scientific application. The following on Comrie from Columbia University: Leslie J. Comrie, Ph.D, (1893-1950): astronomer and pioneer in mechanical computation, born in Pukekohe, New Zealand, and educated at Auckland University College, University College London, and Cambridge University, where he received a Ph.D. in astronomy.  Like his American contemporary, Columbia University Astronomy Professor Wallace Eckert, Comrie was a pioneer in the application of punched-card machinery to astronomical calculations and the production of astronomical and mathematical tables: the first scientific use of these machines, which had been designed purely for business use.”