W. Wallace McDowell

William Wallace McDowell (born September 2, 1906 , † March 2, 1985 in Naples (Florida) ) was an American engineer and IBM manager.

McDowell graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where he received his bachelor's degree in engineering management in 1930 . In the same year he went to IBM , where he first worked in the sales department, but in 1931 he switched to the engineering laboratory in Endicott, New York, as a developer. In 1936 he became Assistant to the Vice President of IBM and in 1939 Assistant Manager of Engineering. In 1942 he became manager of the engineering laboratory at Endicott and in 1950 IBM director of engineering. 1954 became vice president of IBM. In 1968 he retired as Resident Vice President (a position he had held since 1960) at IBM in Endicott.

McDowell was responsible for nearly a hundred engineering projects at IBM during World War II on behalf of the US government, and after the end of World War II led the conversion of the engineering department to civilian purposes. In particular, he led the transition from electromechanical to electronic computers, which was completed at IBM with the IBM 701 , which was announced in 1952. The subsequent transition to transistors was also his responsibility. He was responsible for the expansion of the IBM laboratories in the 1950s (alongside Endicott, Poughkeepsie in San Jose, Zurich).

The W. Wallace McDowell Award of the IEEE is named in his honor.

Web links

Biography at the IEEE

Individual evidence

↑ He was also involved in a leading position in the semi-electromechanical Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator from 1948.

personal data
SURNAME	McDowell, W. Wallace
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	McDowell, William Wallace (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American IBM manager
DATE OF BIRTH	September 2, 1906
DATE OF DEATH	March 2, 1985
Place of death	Naples (Florida)

[1] He was also involved in a leading position in the semi-electromechanical Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator from 1948.