Julian Bigelow
Julian Himely Bigelow (born March 19, 1913 in Nutley , New Jersey , USA ; † February 17, 2003 in Princeton , New Jersey) was an American electrical engineer .
After studying mathematics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he accepted a position as an engineer at IBM .
In the early 1940s, during the Second World War, he worked with Norbert Wiener on an automatic fire control device for anti-aircraft guns. Although this work was not very successful, he remained connected to Wiener.
In 1943 they published the work Behavior, Purpose and Teleology with the neurophysiologist Arturo Rosenblueth , in which they show that the behavioral classes in machines and living organisms are organized in the same way. They viewed all purposeful action as a control process with feedback, which was known as regulation in electrical engineering. The aim of this action is to keep the system stable. With this thesis they co-founded a new discipline: cybernetics .
The article made a strong impression on a small group of intellectuals and led to the creation of a small association called the Teleological Society . This group, in turn, produced a series of scientific sessions, the Macy Conferences , which brought together Bigelow and an influential group of scientists and thinkers.
In his collaboration with the theorists Wiener and von Neumann, the technician Bigelow combined this with the “real world”.
As Bigelow was moving his neatly dismantled house from side of town to the other, a parade accompanied him down Princeton's main street.
In 1946, on Wiener recommendation, Bigelow was brought to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton by the mathematician John von Neumann , where he was to build a calculating machine as chief engineer. Six years (1952) later, the IAS computer was fully functional. The year before, scientists from the Los Alamos Laboratory were already using this computer to make calculations for the hydrogen bomb .
Bigelow, one of the world's first computer architects, was enthusiastic about the possibilities that this technology offered.
As a hobby, he renovated an airplane and was still flying at the age of 80.
His wife Elizabeth survived him. Their children are Nicholas in Rochester, Marc in Wolcott Vt. and Alice in London.
Web links
- "Julian Bigelow, 89, Computer Pioneer, Is Dead" , New York Times , 22 February 2003
- "Arturo Rosenblueth, Norbert Wiener and Julian Bigelow: Behavior, Purpose and Teleology" (PDF; 56 kB)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bigelow, Julian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bigelow, Julian Himely |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American Electrical - Engineering |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 19, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nutley , New Jersey , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 2003 |
| Place of death | Princeton , New Jersey |