The EL-X8 computer and the BOL detector Networking, programming, time-sharing and data-handling in the Amsterdam nuclear research project `BOL' A personal historical review

TL;DR

This paper reviews the integration of the Electrologica X8 computer with the BOL nuclear detector system in Amsterdam from 1967 to 1974, highlighting pioneering data handling, networking, and programming efforts in nuclear physics research.

Contribution

It presents a historical account of innovative networking and programming techniques used to manage complex nuclear detection experiments with early computers.

Findings

Successful implementation of networked data acquisition systems

Development of advanced software layers for data handling

Enhanced online data visualization capabilities

Abstract

From 1967 to 1974, an Electrologica X8 computer was installed at the Institute for Nuclear Research (IKO) in Amsterdam, primarily for online and offline evaluation of experimental data, an application quite different from its `brother's', X8's. During that time, the nuclear detection system `BOL' was in operation to study nuclear reactions. The BOL detector embodied a new and bold concept. It consisted of a large number of state-of-the-art detection units, mounted in a spherical arrangement around a target in a beam of nuclear particles. Two minicomputers performed data acquisition and control of the experiment and supported online visual display of acquired data. The X8 computer, networked with the minicomputers, allowed fast high-level data processing and analysis. Pioneering work in both experimental nuclear physics as well as in programming, turned out to be a surprisingly good combination. For the network with the X8 and the minicomputers, advanced software layers were developed to efficiently and flexibly program extensive data handling.