James E. Thornton
James E. Thornton (born September 25, 1925 in Saint Paul , Minnesota - † January 11, 2005 ) was an American computer engineer.
Thornton studied electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in 1950. Immediately afterwards, he went to Engineering Research Associates (ERA), which was taken over by Remington Rand in 1952 . In 1958 he left the company with other ERA engineers to join the newly founded Control Data Corporation . He stayed there until 1973 and was involved in the development of the CDC 1604, CDC 6600 , 6400, 6500 and the STAR-100. In particular, with Seymour Cray, he was the main developer of the groundbreaking CDC 6000 supercomputer, which came on the market in 1964.
In 1974 he founded Network Systems Corporation, which manufactured computer networks for connecting mainframes and minicomputers.
In 1994 he received the Eckert-Mauchly Award for pioneering work in high-performance processors , the invention of the scoreboard and fundamental contributions to vector computing supercomputers .
Web links
- Eckert-Mauchly Award
- Computer History Museum for CDC 6600 (with brochure from Thornton Considerations in Computer Design- leading up to the Control Data 6600 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/twincities/obituary.aspx?n=james-e-thornton&pid=3033494&fhid=4255
- ↑ Laudation: For his pioneering work on high performance processors; for inventing the scoreboard for instruction issue; and for fundamental contributions to vector supercomputing
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thornton, James E. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American computer engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 25, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 11, 2005 |