This Day in History (1983): EXPEC's new Advanced Image Processing System to assist geophysicists in the search for oil

From the Sept. 14, 1983, edition of The Arabian Sun

"The easy oil has already been found."

This rather negative truism applies to the oil-producing nations of the world including Saudi Arabia. To locate hard-to-find oil and gas, Aramco is not only utilizing the most advanced technology available, it is also blazing new trails in the application of sophisticated scientific devices.

A case in point is the Advanced IBM 7350 Image Processing System (AIPS), a high-resolution interactive system for color image data processing and display that can be attached to Aramco's large IBM mainframe computers.

An AIPS prototype unit was installed in the EXPEC Computer Center in November 1982 for a six-month evaluation by Aramco. Aramco personnel, working closely with IBM experts, produced some of the first oil industry-related software for use with this device; so successful was the company's effort that IBM has requested permission to display these programs along with the AIPS in Las Vegas this month at the annual convention of The Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

The AIPS prototype unit delivered to Aramco will be returned to IBM shortly but four new AIPS are targeted for the EXPEC Computer Center this year with more expected to follow in 1984.

Caption for top photo: Ahmad al-Bassam, a participant in the Saudi Professional Development Program, operates the keyboard of the Advanced Image Processor located in the EXPEC Building.

Also on this date

2022 — The Queen's coffin is taken from Buckingham Palace, placed on a gun carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and moved in a procession to Westminster Hall for her lying in state over the next four days with The Queue stretching for miles along the River Thames

2015 — The first observation of gravitational waves is made, announced by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on Feb. 11, 2016

2007 — The Northern Rock bank experiences the first bank run in the United Kingdom in 150 years

2000 — Microsoft releases Windows Me

1994 — The rest of the Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike

1985 — Penange Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic

1973 — American rapper Nas (born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones) is born in New York City

1960 — The Organization of petroleum Exporting Countries is founded

1958 — The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere

1948 — The Indian Army captures the city of Aurangabad as part of Operation Polo

1936 — Raoul Villain, who assassinated the French Social Jean Jaures, is himself killed by Spanish Republicans in Ibiza

1917 — The Russian Empire is formally replaced by the Russian Republic

1901 — U.S. President William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt

1829 — The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War

1814 — The poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

1752 — The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days (the previous day was Sept. 2)