Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch

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Fritz Rudolf Güntsch (1992)

Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch (born September 27, 1925 in Berlin ; † January 8, 2012 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German computer pioneer, inventor of virtual memory , and an industry and science manager .

Life

After serving in the war and as a prisoner of war, Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch began studying physics at the Technical University of Karlsruhe in 1947 , which he graduated from the Technical University of Berlin in 1954 as a graduate engineer, specializing in theoretical physics . Güntsch became assistant and senior assistant at the TU Berlin. His areas of work included:

During his time in Berlin, there were also guest stays with Alwin Walther ( TH Darmstadt ) and Eduard Stiefel and Heinz Rutishauser ( ETH Zurich ). Güntsch gave lectures on hardware and software for program-controlled computing systems at the TU Berlin . In 1957 he did his doctorate with Wolfgang Haack (TU Berlin) and Stiefel (ETH Zurich) with the dissertation Logical design of a digital computing device with several asynchronously running drums and automatic fast storage operation . The most important invention in the context of this work was the virtual memory. In 1958 Güntsch switched to the industry at AEG Telefunken, in the newly established " Information Technology " division in Konstanz , where he subsequently took over the management of the "Electronic Computer" and " Mainframe " departments. During this time he built high-performance corporate units with hundreds of employees from small beginnings. The most important projects in the specialist areas headed by Güntsch were

  • the mainframes TR 4 and TR 440
  • the postal check calculator TR 5
  • the small commercial computer TR 10
  • the small computer TR 86 (in variants as process computer, fire control computer and peripheral computer in TR 440 systems)
  • A wide variety of analog computers
  • Numerous system solutions (postal check service, air traffic control , military command systems)
  • Parallel and polymorphic computers (due to the lack of funding opportunities, studies remained)

In 1969 Güntsch moved to the Federal Ministry of Defense and took over the "Defense Research" department with the areas of work

In 1971 (until his end of service in 1990) Güntsch took over the promotion of data processing , technical communication and electronics in the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology , and - over longer periods of time - aerospace, specialist information systems, physical technologies, chemical technologies, humanization of the Working life, manufacturing and process engineering, innovative company start-ups, medical research, biological research and technology, environmental research and technology, materials research, microsystems.

During this time, the various federal IT programs, the technical communication program and the computer science program for the establishment of 14 computer science focal points at German universities, from which today's faculties, departments and institutes for computer science developed. With the German Research Network, German science received a modern communication infrastructure.

Güntsch was married three times and the father of six children (two sons, four daughters). In 1992 he moved to Brandenburg an der Havel , the city that he had known since childhood as the birthplace of his mother and home to numerous ancestors back to the 17th century, and built a house for himself with his third wife in the old town.

Outstanding performance

Güntsch's most important achievement was undoubtedly the invention of virtual memory. Virtual is a memory that is implemented by a small but fast memory that offers the desired access time and a large but slower memory that offers the desired capacity. Data is exchanged between the two in such a way that as many accesses as possible from the fast memory are satisfied, whereby the application does not have to worry about these processes. Güntsch developed this concept in 1956 as part of a computer with ten asynchronously running drums as a "large" memory.

The processor of this machine does not access the drum memory directly, but rather a high-speed memory with a total capacity of 600 words (in six blocks). An important motive for this structure was the synchronization of the processor with ten (among themselves) asynchronously rotating drums. From today's point of view, however, it is much more important that a virtual storage system was implemented here for the first time through the interaction of the high-speed storage system with the drum storage system. Every access by the processor to the address space of 100,000 words has either one of the registers or the input / output as its destination, or it leads to the high-speed memory. Two blocks of the address space are permanently mapped onto two blocks of the high-speed memory, while the mapping of the remaining blocks of the address space follows the access process. Two double blocks are available in the quick storage for this purpose. Whenever an instruction is not found in the quick store, it is loaded with the double block surrounding it from the drum into the first double block of the quick store. Correspondingly, access to a data word not present in the high-speed memory results in the replacement of the content of the next two high-speed memory blocks. In this way it is possible to separate the command access process and the data access process from one another, and one can take advantage of the fact that each has a better location than the overall process. In the double block of the address space, which is permanently assigned to the third double block of the high-speed memory, the programmer can accommodate frequently used command sequences and data. In order to prevent infrequently accessed instruction sequences or data from leading to a harmful replacement in the fast memory, the machine is equipped with some instructions that bypass the fast memory and allow the processor to access the drum directly. Virtual memory was born, and Güntsch wrote in his dissertation from 1957: “The programmer does not need to take the availability of fast memories into account - he does not even need to know that they are available. Because there is only one type of address that can be programmed as if there were only one memory available. "

The mainframe computer TR 440 (1970), developed under the direction of Güntsch, was the fastest computer ever built in Europe and, with 45 installed machines, represented an important business success for the German computer industry. The machine had pioneering compilers and a very innovative operating system , which allowed jobs to be carried out in batch and in subscriber mode via the same user interface .

One of the far-reaching achievements of Güntsch is the supraregional computer science research program, in which the federal and state governments enabled the establishment of 14 computer science focal points at German universities, from which the later departments and faculties for computer science developed. Without this program, it would not have been possible to build up the necessary capacities in the 1970s to do justice to the rapidly growing demands of the German economy in research, but especially in teaching.

Honors

Fonts

  • F.-R. Güntsch: Logical design of a digital computing device with several asynchronously running drums and automatic quick storage mode. TU Berlin, 1957 (dissertation)
  • F.-R. Güntsch, R. Lukas: Magnetic tape computer of the Technical University of Berlin. In: Electronic data processing. 2/1959. Pp. 33-46
  • F.-R. Güntsch: Introduction to the programming of digital calculators. de Gruyter, Berlin 1960/1963
  • F.-R. Güntsch: For simultaneous work with digital computers, electronic computing systems. August 1960, pp. 3-14
  • F.-R. Güntsch: Via special digital computers. In: Telefunken newspaper. 33/1960, issue 127 pp. 4–12

literature

  • E. Jessen, E. Ulbrich: TR 440 as a participant computer system in: Data processing with multiple access systems, House of Technology Essen. Vulkan-Verlag, Essen 1967
  • E. Jessen: Origin of the Virtual Memory Concept. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Volume 26. 4/2004, page 71 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date according to obituary on January 11, 2012 in Märkische Allgemeine , Brandenburger Landkurier, p. 18
  2. ↑ Hungry for life, otherwise modest ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Güntsch, Fritz-Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German computer pioneer, industry and science manager
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 2012
Place of death Brandenburg on the Havel