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Department of Computer and Information Science

History

Department History

The Department of Computer and Information Science at NTNU was founded on the 1^st of January 1997, as a merger between the Division of Computer Science at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), and the Department of Informatics at the College of Arts and Sciences (AVH).

But the history of computer and information science at NTNU is much older than that. At the NTH the Division of Computer Science was formed in the summer of 1972. The first employees in the academic staff were Knut Skog, Tore Amble, Arne Halaas, Terje Noodt and Kjell Bratbergsengen. The first professor in Computer Science was Arne Sølvberg. He was appointed professor in 1974.

Historical video from 1982 of Arne Sølvberg, Lene Thrap, and Geir Andersen. The video shows the PERQ computer and the VISP system which Geir and Lene developed in their project.

First the division was a part of the Department of General Sciences, but on the 1^st of July 1984 it was transferred to the Department of Electrical Engineering, which then was renamed Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

On the 1^st of July 1987 the Division of Computer Science was merged with the Division of Telematics and the computer group at the Division of Engineering Cybernetics, to the Division of Computer Systems and Telematics. The computer group at the Division of Engineering Cybernetics was led by Professor Olav Landsverk.

In 1970 Olav Landsverk became Norway's first appointed professor in Computer Engineering. Landsverk was a pioneer in Norwegian computer design, and had lead the building of the first digital computers of purely Norwegian design (NUSSE was originally a british design) at the Norwegian Defense Research Institute in the early 1960s. Among Landsverks pionieering projects we find Lydia, Sam-1 and -2 built at the Defense Research Institute, and SM-3 and SM-4 designed for Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk.

IT had been a part of the curriculum at AVH since 1982, and in 1989 a Department of Informatics was formed. The department was part of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) was formed the 1^st of January 1996 by the merger of NTH, AVH, the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, the Faculty of Medicine, and the Trondheim Conservatory of Music. From 1968 these institutions had been a part of the University of Trondheim (UNiT). But this was a much looser organization than NTNU, and in the years following 1996 the computer departments was reorganized.

The 1^st of July 1996 the telematics part of the Division of Computer Systems and Telematics was separated out to an own division. And finally on the 1^st of January 1997 the remaining Division of Computer Technology and the Department of Informatics were merged into the Department of Computer and Information Science that we know today. In 2001 came the geographical co-location of the former NTH and AVH departments. The department is now located in the IT-building (the old physics buildings at the former NTH campus).

The expansion in number of students, employees and research agendas has been formidable over these years, and today the Department of Computer and Information Science is one of the biggest and most successful at NTNU, with 4 sections, 11 research groups, more than 800 students, 80 PhD students, and 100 employees.

NTNU Computer History

The computer history at NTNU is much older than the computer departments. The very first computer at NTNU was called DIANA, or DIfferential ANAlysator. This was an analog electronic computer built by Jens Glad Balchen and the Division of Cybernetics in the years between 1952 and 1955. A true pioneering effort!

The first general purpose digital computer came in 1962. It was called GIER and was developed by the Danish Institute of Computer Machinery. As a part of the deal, several engineers from Trondheim went down to Copenhagen and participated in the assembly of the machine. Many of the computer pioneers at NTNU had their first encounter with a computer on GIER, and for many the machine still brings back vivid memories of long nights sleeping on the floor in front of the cupbord-shaped device, and endless debugging of programs on paper tape.

In 1965 NTH got its first large mainframe computer. The choice fell on UNIVAC, and model 1107 marked the starting point of a long relationship with UNIVAC. In 1969 model 1108 was installed, in 1976 it was supplemented with an 1100/21. 1108 was replaced by an 1100/62 in 1980, and finally an 1100/72 in 1986. The UNIVAC era in Trondheim ended in 1990.

From the mid 1970s several other machines was installed as well. Most notably was the relationship with the Norwegian firm Norsk Data. From the early 1980s and onwards DEC and Vax also was prominent. In 1986 a Cray X-MP/2 was installed and a centre for super computing was established along with it.

The mainframe computers at the University of Trondheim were run by an independent SINTEF division called RUNIT. The computer centre took care of computer services, and provided computer courses for students. It also did research and offered services for firms outside the university. In 1972 the education group at RUNIT merged with the newly established Division of Computer Science, and in 1987 the research group got merged into another large SINTEF group - ELAB. Today the heritage of RUNIT lives on in Ergo Group.

More information on the computer history at NTNU can be found on http://www.datamuseum.no (mostly in Norwegian).

TIMELINE

1910: Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norges Tekniske Høyskole - NTH) opens.
1922: Norwegian Teachers Academy (Norges Lærerhøyskole - NLHT) opens.
1952-1955: DIANA is built at the Division of Engineering Cybernetics (Institutt for reguleringsteknikk - senere teknisk kybernetikk)
1962: GIER arrives at NTH. The Computer Centre at NTH (Regnesenteret NTH) is founded.
1965: The first mainframe - UNIVAC 1107 arrives at NTH.
1968: The University of Trondheim (UNiT) is founded as a loose merger between NTH and NLHT among others.
1969: UNIVAC 1107 is replaced by UNIVAC 1108.
1972: Division of Computer Science (Institutt for Databehandling - IDB) is founded at the Department of General Sciences (Almenavdelingen).
1973: The Computer Centre at NTH changes name to RUNIT.
1982: NLHT changes name to the College of Arts and Sciences (den Allmennvitenskapelige Høyskolen - AVH).
1984: IDB is transferred to the Department of Electical Engineering (Elektroteknisk avdeling). The department changes name to Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Avdeling for Elektoteknikk og Datateknikk).
1986: RUNIT gets into supercomputing with the Cray X-MP.
1987: RUNIT merges with ELAB to ELAB-RUNIT.
1st of July 1987 IDB merges with the Division of Telematics and the computer group at the Division of Engineering Cybernetics, to the Division of Computer Systems and Telematics (Institutt for datateknikk og telematikk – IDT).
1989: Department of Informatics (Institutt for informatikk - IFI) is founded at AVH.
1st of July 1996. The telematics group was separated out from IDT, and the division changes name to Department of Computer Science (Institutt for datateknikk - IDT)
1st of January 1997: IFI and IDT are merged into Department of Computer and Information Science (Institutt for datateknikk og informasjonvitenskap - IDI), with one section at Lade and one at Gløshaugen.
2001: IDI inherits the old physics building when the Departpment of Physics move into Realfagbygget, and both sections move in there.

(A short note on names to confuse matters further: At the Norwegian Institute of Technology what we now call department was called division. What then was called department is today called faculty)