Bob Evans (engineer)

Bob Overton Evans (born August 19, 1927 in Grand Island , Nebraska , † September 2, 2004 in Hillsborough , California ) was an American computer engineer and IBM manager.

Evans studied electrical engineering at Iowa State University with a bachelor's degree in 1951. Immediately afterwards, he went to IBM as an engineer, involved in the development of tube computers. In 1962 he became vice president of the data systems department at IBM and was responsible for the development of the System / 360 (both hardware and software). System / 360 became one of the most successful IBM products and set standards for mainframes. In 1969 he became President of the Systems Development Division and as such was responsible for the development of the System / 370 line and the System Network Architecture (SNA). Most recently he was Corporate Vice President ( Engineering, Programming and Technology ) at IBM. In 1984 he retired there.

Evans convinced Thomas J. Watson, Jr. at IBM in the early 1960s to create a development policy for computer systems that are compatible with one another (implemented in System / 360). In 1991 he received the Computer Pioneer Award in particular for introducing the concept of compatibility into the computer industry.

He then worked for the venture capital company Hambrecht and Quist and, in 1988, a partner in its spin-off Technology Strategies and Alliances . Evans was a Fellow of the Computer History Museum .

In 1991 he received the Computer Pioneer Award . In 1985 he received the National Medal of Technology with Frederick P. Brooks and Erich Bloch . He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1970). In 2004 he became a Fellow of the Computer History Museum .

From 1981 to 1995 he was an academic advisor to the government in Taiwan.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary in the Independent

Web links

• Biography at the Computer History Museum