Fifty Years Ago .... from the pages of Computer Weekly

6th June 1974 computing, compiled by TNMOC volunteer archivist, Brian Aldous.

A selection of stories from Computer Weekly from 6th June 1974. The full archive of Computer Weekly can be seen at TNMOC, where there are special rolling displays of front pages from 25 and 40 years ago.

UK police databank goes live; Two years after the installation of a twin Burroughs 6700 system, the first phase of the Police National Computer project has been completed. This is regarded as a milestone by both Burroughs and the Hoskyns Group, which has been responsible for software development. The computers, which are situated at Hendon, in North
London, form the heart of a nationwide network giving police forces throughout the country access to 5,000 million characters of information via 800 VDUs and associated printers, 300 of which have been installed so far. It is believed that this central file constitutes one of the largest single on-line databases in civil government use, and demonstrations on the Home Office stand at this week’s Communications 74 exhibition and conference in Brighton will show how the network will help the policeman on the beat. (CW 396 6/6/1974 p1)

Ultrasonic aid in fight against cancer: An ultrasonic scanning technique for the early diagnosis and monitoring of treatment of cancer has been developed by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research working with doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey. At present the sound waves from the ultrasonic probe are converted into an echo picture which is displayed on a monitor screen and photographed with a Polaroid camera for further study. But only a fraction of the information contained in the sound stream can be accommodated on the screen, and the team plans to use a Digital Equipment PDP-8/e mini to record and process the data more fully. Analysis of such parameters as the scatter and attenuation of the received sound is ultimately expected to enable doctors to make a very precise determination of the nature of the various areas of tissue revealed by the ultrasonic probe, which produces a series of representations of “slices” through the organ under study. Soundwaves, being a form of energy, can be harmful in large concentrations, but the technique used at the hospital requires less than a thousandth of the minimum dose which could be harmful. In addition, unlike X-rays, harmless doses of sound waves have no cumulative effect, so that the technique can be used regularly and frequently on a patient undergoing treatment with no danger at all. (CW 396 6/6/1974 p40)