Herman Lukoff

Herman Lukoff (born May 2, 1923 in Philadelphia , † September 24, 1979 ) was an American computer pioneer.

Lukoff studied electrical engineering at the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in 1943. During his studies and after his graduation, he worked on the ENIAC project by J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly , which was considered by military service in the US Navy Radio technician was interrupted. From 1946 he was back at the Moore School, where he worked at Eckert and Mauchly on the EDVAC computer (control electronics for the acoustic mercury delay lines that served as memory). He also joined the computer company founded by Eckert and Mauchly, which was acquired by Remington Rand in 1950 . Here he was significantly involved in the development of the input and output devices for the UNIVAC I (control electronics for the magnetic tape devices ). In 1955 he was responsible for the development of the UNIVAC-LARC (Livermore Automatic Research Computer) at the successor company Sperry Rand , which was completed in 1961 and had a semiconductor processor. In 1960 he became head of development at Sperry Rand. He led the development of the UNIVAC III, the UNIVAC 1050, the Fastrand I mass storage, the Uniservo III C magnetic tape system and the magnetic core storage technology, which led to Sperry Rand becoming one of the largest manufacturers in this sector.

In 1969 he received the W. Wallace McDowell Award and in 1981 the Computer Pioneer Award .

In 1979 he died of leukemia. In the same year his autobiography was published ( From Dits to Bits: A personal history of the electronic computer , Robotics Press, Forest Grove, Oregon. ISBN 0-89661-002-0 ). Lukoff had been married since 1948 and had three sons and a daughter. His grave is in Shalom Memorial Park in Philadelphia.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who was who in America, Volume 7, 1981, p. 361

Web links

• Biography on the McDowell Award side