Subject: IGOR - the roots
In-Reply-To: <7427B581B04F8140927549F9C39767C72BEA241F53@MXM8-S-MB1.golder.gds>
References: <C6A1F126.886C%fblackburn@ppg.com>
<CCEF5E7AF6AA37448C5068EF31FBC8B4907BA0@exchangemb5.bnl.gov>
<7427B581B04F8140927549F9C39767C72BEA241F53@MXM8-S-MB1.golder.gds>
Message-ID: <p06240804c6a6b42fe5c0@[192.168.1.29]>

>1) What does the name "IGOR" stand for?

This is so obscure that I could not find the answer via:

1. Google
2. Spotlight on my computer
3. My Igor 1.24 manual
4. My copy of the Fall, 1990 issue of "TargetWindow" (the WaveMetrics
newsletter published once a decade or so)

I finally found it on the Igor Pro 1.2 brochure. It stands for:
"Interactive Graphical Operations for Research".

>2) What is the history of IGOR? Who developed it, when (first official
>version) and for what purpose (spectrometry??) ?

My recollection is that Igor was started in early 1987. It was started by
Dr. Larry Hutchinson (President of WaveMetrics, Inc.).

Larry recruited me that spring. I started to teach myself C using my 1MB
Mac Plus (which started life in 1984 as a 128K Mac) with one 512K floppy
drive and a stunning 9 inch black and white monitor.

I got a job in 1978 as Larry's technician at Princeton Applied Research, a
scientific instrument manufacturer. Not long thereafter, Larry designed and
we built the PAR Model 4402 Signal Processor. We obtained pre-production
samples of the Motorola 68000 microprocessor and built a computer, designed
by Larry, based on it. A prototype of the 4402 is in my attic and still
worked the last time I checked (circa 1992).

The 4402 software was written in Forth by Larry with a little help from me.
It had features like waveform acquisition, synthesis and display, Fourier
transforms and smoothing. I wrote the RS-232 and GPIB I/O functionality for
it.

IGOR (or as we more often call it, Igor), was conceived as a
general-purpose data analysis and display program for scientists and
engineers. The name was suggested by Larry's wife, Kim, to connote
"scientist's assistant".

Igor 1.0 shipped on two floppy disks in January of 1989.

Tom Peterson and Jim Prouty joined the company in 1989 and are still with
us. Jim suggested the name WaveMetrics.

Howard Rodstein
WaveMetrics