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 ISRM is the world's largest free digital repository of all things concerning slide rules and other math artifacts. There are over 7000 Images or PDF's in the ISRM Galleries |
| The ISRM is dedicated to the Students, Educators, Scientists and Engineers of the Past and Those Still Present, and to promote the lost art of Numeracy by providing resources and slide rules for education and other historic institutions. ISRM is a member of the American Association of Museums and the Association of Northern Front Range Museums. ISRM was founded in 2003 and is now celebrating 10 years of service as of 2013. |
 The ISRM exhibited Slide Rules Through the Ages and 'Slide Rule' Calculators (1972-1977) at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona on Feb 15-16, 2013, as part of the annual Oughtred Society Winter Meeting. All slide rule specimens, scans, photos and ephemera are organized into one of 48 galleries; by major manufacturer, construction style, country/region, time period or application. Scroll down on the MENU on the left to go directly to a particular brand or to see other data. Scans of slide rule manuals and text books are organized into one of 12 areas:
News for Friends of the Museum
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| NEW GALLERIES The curator is in the process of adding new slide rules galleries based on country rather than continent, in order to better recognize the contributions of individual nationalities. Previously, many countries were bundled together in MiscEuro and MiscWorld, and ISRM Friends in Europe suggested that more galleries would increase the usefulness to visitors, as well as to emphasize the 'International' appeal of the museum. I agree! Please be patient if a gallery appears to be incomplete or stops working, as most of this effort is being done from a remote location with an unreliable/slow internet hotspot. ISRM thanks the many European collectors who also host slide rule related website that are helping to expand the number of images. |
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 Image courtesy of hpmuseum.org |
2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the HP-35 'Slide Rule' Calculator (and the beginning of the end of the slide rule industry by 1977). The release of the Hewlett-Packard HP-35 occured on Febuary 1, 1972. the HP-35, named for the number of keys on the calculator, was the single most instigator of the demise of the slide rule as we know it, even though the introductory price was $395.00 or $4000 in 2012 money. Within months, Texas Instruments released the TI-2500 4-function calculator and the SR-10 slide rule calculator. Visit ISRM's NEW Gallery of Slide Rule Calculators from 1972-1977 |
 Gold: Werner H. Rudowski(center) Silver: Jörn Lütjens (right) Bronze: Klaus G. Krämer (left) |
The Deutschsprachigen Rechenschieber-Sammler RST (German speaking Slide Rule Collectors) held its 23rd annual meeting in Altona (Hamburg) Germany on April 14, 2012 and hosted the 2012 'truly'
International Slide Rule Championships, the first one to be held in Europe. 15 of the 40 slide rule collectors, 5 countries (Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Finland) volunteered in participating in the International Slide Rule contest (Continental European) 2012, which was performed for the first time. The main profession of the contesters were (retired) engineers, 2 active pilots, and teachers. All the participants received an ARISTO Darmstadt 967 slide rule and had to solve 10 problems within 30 minutes. The champion, Werner H. Rudowski won with with 10 (all) solutions solved followed by Jörn Lütjens with 9.5 solutions and Klaus G. Krämer with 9 solutions. Congratulations all! Any collector group, school or engineering association are invited to host an ISRC contest. |
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ISRM congratulates the Oughtred Society on your 20th Anniversery!
The above cake, copied after a Pickett slide rule, was presented to the membership at the IM 2011 meeting at MIT. |
| ISRM is administering the International Slide Rule Championships. Any collector group, school or engineering association are invited to participate. Problem sets provided by ISRM as well as the Medals to be awarded to the local champions, FREE! The first innagural contest in was Rose Suarez's Mathematics and Research Class in Half Hollow Hills, NY. (on Left). Kristen Fouss's Pre-calculus class at Anderson HS in Cincinnati, Ohio had the most recent champions (on right). |
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| Mike Konshak, ISRM Curator presented a symposium on slide rule history, manufacturing processes and use to the Northern Colorado No. 354 chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in Longmont, Colorado. Mike was presented with an award by Andy Keller and Don Larsen and many slide rules were donated to ISRM by Andy Keller from his personal collection. More pictures. |
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Students from the Collège André-Grasset in Montreal, Canada using slide rules donated by ISRM. Click on the banner for more information.
Students from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada created an exhibit for the annual Knowledge
Integration (KI-X 2011) exhibit using slide rules donated by ISRM. Click on the banner for more information.
Dr. Barbara Rooker of the Joplin, Missouri K12 School System, introduced students to slide rule math during 2009 using ISRM's free loaner program. Click banner for more pictures:
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The original specimens and files found in this museum prior to 2005 were
donated to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California in for preservation
and display. Take time to visit CHM when you are in the area. ISRM continues to expand with replacements through the generous cooperation and donations of collectors and heritage donors from around the world. |
Modern Logo's depicting Slide Rules
 USAF Test Pilot School Patch, Edwards AFB, California |
 Joe Miner, Official Mascot of University of Missouri-Rolla, now the Missouri University of Science and Technology |
Purdue Engineer's Yell (1960's) e to the x, dy, dx e to the x, dx cosine secant tangent sine three point one four one five nine square root, cube root, Btu slipstick, slide rule, Yay Purdue
Contributed by Bruce Chelf, |
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* Hairy-Eared Engineer - definition: 1) An engineer who's old enough to have hair growing out of undesirable places. 2) Who's been practicing engineering so long that he or she has already made all possible mistakes at least once. 3) A desirable person to have on a project to ensure the mission succeeds. 4) Quote: "Every project needs at least one hairy-eared engineer" Marvin B. Davis -1980. (Marvin was one then and 25 years later, my barber can attest that I've finally made the grade). |
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Slide Rule WallpaperThis wallpaper is a collage of many slide rules. It is 1240 x 1020, 582kb and I have almost every slide rule manufacturer and country represented. Save this file (Right-Click Save Target) and select it using for the background on your computer monitor. 'Right-Click' on your screen and select 'Properties', then 'Browse' to the file to change your wallpaper. I hope you enjoy it. |
Astrological Nerd Signs - A Y2K Compliant Zodiac
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September 24th ~ October 22nd |
 Not you? See where your birthday falls in Nerd Signs |
1550-1617
John Napier
Invented the Logarithm in 1614
1574-1660 William Oughtred Inventor of the Slide Rule
1831-1936 Victor Amadee Mannheim standardized modern scales
c1890 DUPA (Aristo) Class Germany
c1900 Englewood (NY) High School Students
c1905 IIT Classroom
1909 IIT Elect. Engineers
1934 Iowa State SR Class
1941 IIT Engineering
1942 Purdue Aeronautics
1950 African-American Students.Prarie View, TX. Texas A&M
1952 Edwards AFB
Test Pilot School
1954 Hamburg, Germany
1957 Robert Herndon, Aircraft Engineer (Life Magazine)
1965 NCF Math Class
1970Colorado School of Mines
1976 Joe Pasquale (right) Weehawken HS, NJ now a Professor at UCSD
1980's "Startrek" TV Re-Runs
1995"Tuskegee Airmen" Movie Scene
1997MIT SR Class
2006 UCSD SR Intro
Present Collector
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| Mike Konshak, the curator and webmaster of the museum, has been honored with the Oughtred Society Award for 2009. He was made a Fellow in this prestigious organization in 2006. It is an honor to be selected to be amongst the other current and past Fellows and Award winners. If you are the least bit interested in the history and use of slide rules you will want to join the Oughtred Society. |
