Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2009.48 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Portrait of Herman Goldstine |
Artist |
Friedman, Jon R. |
Date |
1999 |
Description |
Half-length portrait of figure with fair complexion, thinned gray hair with large square glasses. Figure sits in a red leather chair with right hand on table and left hand propped on cheek. He wears a dark pin striped three-piece suit, white shirt, pink and blue tie with a gold ring and gold wrist watch on left hand. Table has a dark green cloth bearing gold APS logo. On the table is an red lined oak box with white gavel and percussion piece. Charles Willson Peale's portrait of Benjamin Franklin after David Martin (58.P.1) is visible over subject's right shoulder. ENIAC logic board is in foreground. Scene appears to be set in the auditorium of the APS's Franklin Hall. Notations from Goldstine's notebooks are incised on the wide wooden frame that houses the portrait. |
Label |
Herman Heine Goldstine was a mathematician, computer scientist, and administrator who helped develop the first electronic digital computer. While in the Army during World War II, Goldstine worked on the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), based at the University of Pennsylvania, described by the New York Times as “an amazing machine which applies electronic speeds for the first time to mathematical tasks hitherto too difficult and cumbersome for solution.” ENIAC filled a 30- by 50-foot room, included 18,000 vacuum tubes, and used 150 kilowatts of power. Dr. Goldstine said that “it was like fighting the Battle of the Bulge to keep it running daily.” Along with John von Neumann, Goldstine also helped to design and build the second-generation calculator EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He then became one of the chief scientists of IBM, where he remained for 26 years. From 1985 to 1997, he served as the APS’s executive officer, and in 1997 he was awarded the Society’s Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences. To honor Goldstine's scientific work, artist Jon Friedman created a frame incised with formulas and notations from his notebooks. Part of the ENIAC machine is also visible in the portrait. Goldstine died in 2004 at the age of 90. |
Medium |
Oil on canvas |
Dimensions |
H-42.313 W-34.625 D-2.5 inches |
Dimension Details |
Framed |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society |
Search Terms |
20th century twentieth century painting scientist mathematics war computing |