Atari cartridge with SCHOONSCHIP mathematical program

Artifact Number:

2021-043

Description

A 20-pin, Atari, computer-games cartridge measuring 11 cm by 6 cm by 3 cm and used to distribute the SCHOONSCHIP algebra program.  The program, one of a kind, was developed by Martinus Veltman (1999 Nobel physics laureate) at CERN in the 1970s to run on the large CDC6300-series computers. Veltman later left CERN and moved to the University of Michigan where, in an outstanding  feat of computer programming, he translated the SCHOONSCHIP program, originally written in CDC machine language, to Motorola M6000 assembly language. He then distributed copies of the program on a games cartridge. The program was used at Chalk River to perform highly complex QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics) calculations that resulted in 13 publications, most of them performed on an inexpensive, stand-alone Atari (gaming) machine. The back of the cartridge displays a “skull and crossbones” which served as a warning that the program could be inadvertently destroyed if connected incorrectly to the Atari. 

Details

Keywords:
computer codes; computer input/output devices
Date:
~1990
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