This is a photographic print of a computer-generated image that was originally created by A. Michael Noll at Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey in 1962-1963. Noll has explained that:

"Ninety-nine lines connect 100 points whose horizontal coordinates are Gaussian. Vertical coordinates increase according to a quadratic equation. As a point reaches the top, it is reflected to the bottom to continue its rise. The exact proportions of this pattern were chosen from many other examples. This particular proportion is vaguely similar to the painting "Ma Jolie" by Picasso."

Although the accompanying text gives the date 1963 and a copyright date of 1965, the original image is similar to others created earlier. In a paper dated August 28 1962, Noll describes how he used an IBM 7090 computer and Stromberg-Carlson 4020 microfilm plotter to produce "an exploratory series of design-producing experiments". He called the resulting images "Patterns" and stated that they were "obviously conceived without forethought for their artistic merit". However, Noll went on to speculate that "experiments might be attempted to try to determine just what qualities make a picture pleasing or even artistic." (A. Michael Noll. Patterns by 7090, Technical Memorandum, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1962).

Noll and his colleague at Bell Labs, Bela Julesz, held a joint exhibition of their work at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York in April 1965. Entitled Computer-Generated Pictures, the show was one of the world's first exhibitions of digital imagery. Noll also attempted to register the copyright for Gaussian-Quadratic, but was initially refused because "a machine had generated the work". As Noll explained "The copyright was finally accepted, giving Gaussian-Quadratic the distinction of being perhaps the first registered piece of copyrighted art produced with a digital computer." (A. Michael Noll. The beginnings of computer art in the United States: a memoir. Leonardo, vol. 27, no. 1, 1994)