Samuel N. Alexander
Samuel Nathan Alexander (born February 22, 1910 in Wharton , Texas , † December 9, 1967 in Chevy Chase , Maryland ) was an American computer pioneer.
Alexander graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in 1931 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in 1933. He was then an engineer in the laboratory of the Simplex, Wire and Cable Company, worked in electronic instrument development for the US Navy and was Senior Project Engineer at Bendix Aviation Corporation. In 1946 he went to the National Bureau of Standards , where he was head of the laboratory for electronic computers until 1954, the data processing department from 1954 to 1964 and the information technology department from 1964 until his death in 1967.
At the National Bureau of Standards in Washington he developed the SEAC ( English Standards Eastern Automatic Computer ). At first it was called the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Interim Computer. It was one of the many mainframe computers developed at the time in universities, laboratories and government organizations that were modeled on John von Neumann 's design, but were only intended as an interim solution until the industry could deliver better computers, in which case they were waiting for one Computer from UNIVAC (Alexander was also involved in the design), the delivery of which was delayed. The main architect alongside Alexander was Ralph J. Slutz (1917–2005), who previously worked on John von Neumann's IAS computer project. The SEAC was the first fully functional electronic computer with internal program memory (Stored Program) in the USA. It was also the first computer with a combination of semiconductor components , first 10,500, then 16,000 germanium diodes were used, in addition to the 747 and later 1,600 electron tubes . The computer was in service for 14 years, originally intended for training purposes within government agencies, and some of the earliest assemblers and compilers were built for it. It was the fastest fully functional computer for around a year until it was outbid by UNIVAC I in 1951 . It also served as a model for other government computers such as the National Security Agency .
Alexander also directed the design of the DYSEAC at the NBS, a successor to the SEAC built for the US Signal Corps, delivered in 1954 and mobile enough to be transported in a truck. He was a government advisor in the USA and in 1956 in Sweden and 1957 in India.
In 1967 he received the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award and in 1981 the Computer Pioneer Award from the IEEE Computer Society. He was a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ SEAC ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Slutz's biography
- ↑ Biography of William Bridge at the IEEE Computer Society ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alexander, Samuel N. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alexander, Samuel Nathan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American computer scientist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 22, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wharton (Texas) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 9, 1967 |
| Place of death | Chevy Chase, Maryland |