The IBM 1620—Baruch’s first computer—from the 1963 Lexicon
Today few students can imagine a time when computers were not an integral part of the Baruch educational experience. But things were very different half a century ago, when the College acquired its first computer.
In 1962, Herbert Arkin, a forward-thinking statistics professor, had been working with the College on the purchase of a computer for two years. His efforts finally bore fruit that November with the acquisition of an IBM 1620. At a reported price of $45,000, the machine was an expensive addition (today’s average Baruch desktop costs approximately $800). Need trumped cost, however.
“We badly need a computer, as a school of business does much work in this field,” Arkin explained to The Ticker in 1962. He further explained that the computer would be for student, not faculty, use and would help improve Baruch’s academic reputation.
The IBM 1620 found a home in the cafeteria on the 10th floor of 17 Lexington Avenue (now known as the Field Building). Some students begrudged the space the bulky machine required. But when the IBM 1620 was ready for its first public demonstration in December 1962, a large crowd assembled and was wowed by its capabilities: solving several previously programmed problems as well as a triple, six-digit multiplication problem posed by an observer, in seconds.
Since then, thousands of increasingly smaller and more powerful computers have graced the halls of the College, but none has generated as much attention as that first model 50 years ago.
—Alex Gelfand (’04), Baruch College assistant archivist
Editorial Update: After publishing this article, the College heard from alumna Ryckje B. (Lowe) Wagner (’63), who is pictured in the 1963 Lexicon photo at top. She is currently living in California, happily retired from an over-20-year career in the computer field.