Seymour Cray
(1925 - 1996)
Born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 1925, Seymour Cray became involved in Computing when digital circuits were still very much in a developmental phase, and went on to design and build the world's first general purpose supercomputers.
By the time he had finished school, World War II was in full swing and he went to work developing glider technology for the D-Day invasion. Staying in the armed services after the war ended, he made his way to the Philippines, where he provided technical support for a Philippine guerrilla unit flushing the remaining Japanese soldiers out of the jungle.
By 1950, he had made his way back to the US and completed a Masters of Mathematicsa. In a time when one of the key aims of digital computing was cryptographic equipment, Cray found himself working for Engineering Research Associates (ERA) which was commissioned by the US Navy to create the 1100 series computers which later morphed into Univac*.
In a time when it was not uncommon to describe computers by the acre, Cray set out to develop the biggest of all, and in 1957 co-founded the Control Data Corporation (CDC), and went on to develop some of the largest and most powerful computers of his time.
In 1972 he struck off on his own and founded Cray research, and is credited with virtually single-handedly inventing supercomputing with the launch of the CRAY-1 in 1976. Looking a little like a 1970's airport sofa, the machine ran faster than any other system at the time, and as an added bonus kept the heating bills down during icy Minnesota winters.
Following the introduction of the Cray-2 system in 1985, Cray took a back seat in management, opting instead for a more hands on role with the development of Cray's systems.
After a lifetime deeply interconnected with the development of computing, Cray was actively involved in the development of micro-miniature supercomputers when he died in a car accident in 1996.
Just prior to his death, he conducted an interview with the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies, University of Virginia, in which he discussed the frontiers of artificial intelligence and called for greater cooperation between microbiologists and computer scientists.
For more information go to The Smithsonian Institute.
* One of the earliest computers, in 1951 the Univac (the name stood for Universal Automatic Computer) was placed into operation by the Census Bureau in the US. It weighed some 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000 calculations per second.
I think it is east to guess that the median age of your voters was below 30, and that those who wrote the salutory articles were slightly lacking in experience or balance. The extremely heavy leaning towards Unix and Linux does make the listing a little biased.
I suggest you read "Fire in the Valley" (both editions: Freiberger and Swaine, 1984 and 2000) for a different viewpoint on Bill Gates than he provides in his semi-fictional hagiography. If you read between the lines it becomes apparent the Microsoft achieved its eminence by inventing only one thing: the first software anti-piracy crusade, when Gates objected to people stealing the BASIC he stole from his time working as a hacker at DEC.
I am sorry, but my age must be showing. I can't see how any Web-based artcile doesn't put Douglas C. Engelbart at the head of the PC revolution. It is the obvious place for the man who invented the VDU, windowing, the mouse, and hypertext.
I feel despair that in the same week that I read two articles by prominent authors decrying the fact that because the young and inexperienced see something published on the Internet, they consider it true, that this piece of distortion is published on, guess what, the Internet.