James W. Bryce
James W. Bryce (born September 5, 1880 in New York City , † 1949 ) was an American inventor and engineer at IBM .
Bryce graduated from City College of New York and then became an engineering draftsman. From 1903 he worked for Walter Christie on a racing car with front-wheel drive. From 1904 he worked at HT Goss, among other things, on time clocks and became its partner. From 1917 he worked for the Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTRC), later IBM, also on time clocks with punched card data processing. In order to calculate wages from working hours, he developed an electromechanical multiplier (relay). He became IBM's chief engineer, and in that capacity Howard Aiken contacted him in 1937 for the Harvard Mark I computer (ASCC). He advocated the transition to electronics (tubes) early on and in 1946 designed a multiplier with tubes ( IBM 603 ). This resulted in the ALU in the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) from IBM (1948). At that time, however, he was already seriously ill and died in 1949.
He held over 500 patents in the US and abroad and was named one of the ten greatest contemporary inventors by the US Patent Office at its centenary in 1936.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bryce, James W. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American computer scientist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 5, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1949 |