Mathematica Inc. (1968–1986)
{{Short description|Defunct American consulting and software firm}}
{{Redirect|Mathematica (company)|the spun-off business unit and research organization|Mathematica Inc.}}
{{Distinguish|Wolfram Mathematica}}
Mathematica Inc. was a multi-faceted American software company and consulting group founded by Princeton University professors in 1958 and established as an independent corporation in 1968. The company had three primary divisions: Mathematica Policy Research, which did consulting work, mostly "to develop mathematical models for marketing decision making"; Mathematica Products Group, best known for developing the RAMIS programming language; and MathTech, the company's technical and economic consulting group. The company was also a leading developer of state lottery systems.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 22, 1983
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/22/business/mathematica-s-shift-into-software-field.html
|title=MATHEMATICA'S SHIFT INTO SOFTWARE FIELD |author=Karen W. Arenson |author-link=Karen W. Arenson}}
In early 1982, the company's stock was split 3-for-2.{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wGVWGF8phaUC&pg=RA1-PA78 | author=Staff writer | date=April 5, 1982 | title=Nickels & Dimes | journal=Computerworld | volume=XVI | issue=14 | page=78 | via=Google Books}} Mathematica Products Group was soon spun off and purchased by Martin Marietta Corporation, in May 1983.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=May 17, 1983 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/424635964/ | title=Marietta to Acquire Mathematica Inc. | journal=The New York Times | page=D4 | via=ProQuest}} The division was then renamed Mathematica & Oxford Software. Marietta sold Mathematica & Oxford Software to On-Line Software International in 1986;{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 31, 1986 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/397974651/ | title=On-Line Buys Software Firm | journal=The Wall Street Journal | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | page=1 | via=ProQuest}} On-Line was in turn sold to Computer Associates, in 1991.{{cite news |newspaper=Computerworld
|title=Features
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/feature/?start=31540}}{{cite web |date=November 18, 2002
|title=Update: Wang leaves CA, hands off to Kumar
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2577976/it-management/update--wang-leaves-ca--hands-off-to-kumar.html}} Mathematica Policy Research and MathTech were also spun off, and in 1986 both independently became employee-owned companies. Mathematica Policy Research was eventually renamed to Mathematica Inc. and it is the only former unit still carrying the full Mathematica name.
Early day participants
- Oskar Morgenstern, economist and one of the company's founders in 1958 (Chairman, 1968)
- Tibor Fabian, Mathematica's Hungarian-born president (1980s)
- William Baumol and William Bowen, economists and early day participants
Divisions
- Mathematica Policy Research – the only former unit still carrying the Mathematica name.
- Mathematica Products Group – best known for developing RAMIS
- MathTech, the company's technical and economic consulting group – "research projects and computer systems other than Ramis."
A quarter of a century after Mathematica's founding, it "was largely owned by a group of professors in Mathematics and Economics at Princeton University... as this group aged, they opted to cash out by selling." The result was a 3-way split: two units became employee-owned companies and another was sold several times.
=Mathematica Products Group=
In 1982, Mathematica Products Group's RAMIS was described as "nonprocedural" and "bordering on artificial intelligence."{{cite web
|url=http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=61054
|title=Mathematica, Inc. |date=February 24, 1982}} This unit of Mathematica was purchased by Martin Marietta Corporation in 1983{{cite news
|newspaper=Computerworld |date=September 9, 1985 |page=6
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fzlfAWYHBpQC |title=RAMIS II, PC Unison}} and renamed to Mathematica & Oxford Software. Marietta sold Mathematica & Oxford Software in 1986 to On-Line Software International, who merged the subsidiary into their own main operations; On-Line was in turn sold to Computer Associates, in 1991.{{cite news |newspaper=Computerworld
|title=Features
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/feature/?start=31540}}{{cite web |date=November 18, 2002
|title=Update: Wang leaves CA, hands off to Kumar
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2577976/it-management/update--wang-leaves-ca--hands-off-to-kumar.html}}
The RAMIS product sold well, initially on mainframes,including 40 AT&T licenses, and other known-name companies subsequently on PCs.
=Mathematica Policy Research=
The Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) unit's strength was in "social experiments and surveys." In 1983 MPR reported "a major survey assignment for the American Medical Association."
In 1986, it became a separate, employee-owned [https://web.archive.org/web/20100813065842/http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/ company].
=MathTech=
Like MPR, in 1986 MathTech became an employee-owned company. Known today as Mathtech, Inc.,"Mathtech Inc. was originally formed as the Strategy and Consulting arm of Princeton-based professional services firm Mathematica, Inc." {{cite web |title=History |url=http://www.mathtechinc.com/ABOUT-HISTORY}} it was described by The New York Times as "a Washington-area educational consulting firm
{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/08/education/learning-the-facts-of-life.html
|title=Learning The Facts of Life |author=James Barron
|date=November 8, 1987}}