Laurie Snell oral history interview

J. Laurie Snell, Professor of Mathematics Emeritus 1954-1996. Oral history interview profiling President Emeritus John Kemeny and documenting his impact on Dartmouth College. Snell details Kemeny’s personal qualities, such as his diligence, tenacity, wit, and unique leadership quality whereby he managed to share his ideas to the effect that everyone thought it was their own. Snell describes how Kemeny used those qualities to navigate the transition to coeducation, and moreover, propel the Dartmouth Time Sharing System forward, as well as the Kiewit Computation Centre. Snell interestingly points out some of Kemeny’s weaknesses, such as the decision not to distribute True BASIC for free, as well as some neglect for the importance of publishing about the project at Dartmouth.