On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969: Preface

Too Long; Didn't Read

The first digital electronic device employed to collect nuclear data was the binary electronic counter (scaler) of the 1930's. In the next decade single and multichannel pulse-height analyzers appeared, still using vacuum tubes. In the 1950's the development of multichannel analyzers continued vigorously, with vast improvement of the analog-to-digital converter sections and with the introduction of computer-type memories, based first on acoustic delay lines and a short time later on ferrite cores. The replacement of vacuum tubes by transistors beginning in the latter half of the 1950's accelerated the pace of development and application of all types of electronic laboratory instruments.