The Future That Never Came

Kallen was an adherent of modern technology. After all he was a certified engineer. Early on, when many scholars regarded mathematical work on computers with contempt and suspicion, Kallen was, on the contrary, a great supporter. His optimism and joy in getting his computer programs to work shine through several of his letters, for example when he informs his friend and collaborator John Toll, in 1960, about: “… what is happening with the DANAD-curve. As I wrote earlier, I have put the curve into the electronic computer we have in the basement. I now have about 20 cases computed for various combinations of the z:s. …”