Magnus Schaefer

The field of digital signal processing comprises techniques for transforming and analyzing sound, images, and other media; it forms the technological base for many contemporary applications. My dissertation traces a historical trajectory spanning from the introduction of digital computers for industrial uses in the early 1950s to the emergence of digital signal processing as a distinct branch of electrical engineering in the late 1960s. Expanding upon existing historical scholarship on the early digital era, which tends to focus on military research, office machines, and telephony, I discuss the development of inherently digital methodologies in exploration geophysics, seismology, and communication engineering and examine how the objectives and professional cultures of these fields have shaped signal processing techniques and practices. The fellowship will support archival research for two dissertation chapters: One examines digital methodologies for oil prospecting; the other details the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm’s catalytic impact on digital signal processing.