Bruce Gilchrist
Encyclopedia
Bruce Gilchrist is considered one of the notable figures in modern computing history.
, England and attended King Edward VII School in Kings Lynn. He harbored a keen interest in computing and computing devices from an early age.
In October 1948, after being awarded a State Scholarship, he started an accelerated applied mathematics degree course at Imperial College of Science and Technology of the University of London
.
In 1951, he be able to attend a two week course at Cambridge University
given by Dr. Maurice Wilkes, the developer of the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). Gilchrist recalls that "this was my first real exposure to computer programming, the problems of debugging, etc.".
at the University of London
. That same year, with a special interest in calculating methods for weather forecasting, and with funding arranged by the mathematician John von Neumann
, he joined the Institute for Advanced Study
in Princeton, New Jersey
supported on United States Smith-Mundt and Fulbright
programs. He worked with Dr. Jule Charney
, a gifted meteorologist and mathematician, on weather prediction calculations, programming the institute's IAS machine
.
He also worked in the area of computers at IAS. Gilchrist first collaborated with the engineer James H. Pomerene
on bettering the performance of cathode ray tube memory (the Williams tube
developed first at the University of Manchester
in England), writing diagnostic programs which allowed the team to make necessary adjustments for speed and reliability.
Further collaborating with Pomerene and Y.K. Wong, they invented a fast adder which incorporated a speed up technique for asynchronous adders reducing the time for additive carry-overs to propagate. This design was actually later incorporated in one commercial computer, the Philco
TRANSAC S-2000, introduced in 1957, the first commercial transistorized computer.
Gilchrist was married in Princeton in April 1954 and his eldest son was born there in February 1956.
In 1955, John von Neumann left the Institute for Advanced Study to join the United States Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) and so, in the summer of 1956, the group Gilchrist had been working with, broke up.
where they had ordered an IBM 650
computer which was delivered a few months after he arrived that summer.
Some time after, he also became involved with the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) and was elected to its national Council in 1958. This volunteer work put him into contact with a wide variety of computer users across the United States.
In the spring of 1959, he was asked by Dr. Herman H. Goldstine, to join him at IBM Research
as manager of the computing facility. So, Gilchrist joined IBM
in 1959 where some years later he later became director of planning with its service bureau
subsidiary, Service Bureau Corporation (SBC), from 1963 to 1965. From 1965 to 1968, he was a manager of IBM's Data Processing Division.
Gilchrist served as secretary (1960–1962) and vice president (1962–1964) of the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM).
In 1966 he was elected president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and later served as its executive director from 1968 to 1973.
He later became director of the Columbia University Computer Center at Columbia University
in New York City from 1973 to 1985. He was also a member of the faculty of engineering at Columbia. He retired from Columbia in 1991.
Having moved to Chappaqua, New York
in 1959, he continued to be active in civic affairs, holding various positions, such as being on the Chappaqua School Board, and the Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services, among others. From 1986-1989 he was elected supervisor of the town of New Castle, New York
.
Gilchrist lived in Chappaqua from 1959 to 2008, after which he moved to Richmond, Virginia
, with his wife, Bette.
Early life and education
Gilchrist was born in Boston, LincolnshireBoston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
, England and attended King Edward VII School in Kings Lynn. He harbored a keen interest in computing and computing devices from an early age.
In October 1948, after being awarded a State Scholarship, he started an accelerated applied mathematics degree course at Imperial College of Science and Technology of the University of London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
.
In 1951, he be able to attend a two week course at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
given by Dr. Maurice Wilkes, the developer of the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). Gilchrist recalls that "this was my first real exposure to computer programming, the problems of debugging, etc.".
Institute for Advanced Study
In the summer of 1952, he received his doctorate in MeteorologyMeteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. That same year, with a special interest in calculating methods for weather forecasting, and with funding arranged by the mathematician John von Neumann
John von Neumann
John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
, he joined the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
supported on United States Smith-Mundt and Fulbright
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
programs. He worked with Dr. Jule Charney
Jule Gregory Charney
Jule Gregory Charney was an American meteorologist who played an important role in developing weather prediction. He developed a set of equations for calculating the large-scale motions of planetary-scale waves...
, a gifted meteorologist and mathematician, on weather prediction calculations, programming the institute's IAS machine
IAS machine
The IAS machine was the first electronic computer built by the Institute for Advanced Study , in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. It is sometimes called the von Neuman machine, since the paper describing its design was edited by John von Neumann, a mathematics professor at both Princeton University...
.
He also worked in the area of computers at IAS. Gilchrist first collaborated with the engineer James H. Pomerene
James H. Pomerene
James Herbert Pomerene was an electrical engineer and computer pioneer.-Biography:Pomerene was born June 22, 1920 in Yonkers, New York. His father was Joel Pomerene and mother was Elsie Bower...
on bettering the performance of cathode ray tube memory (the Williams tube
Williams tube
The Williams tube or the Williams-Kilburn tube , developed in about 1946 or 1947, was a cathode ray tube used to electronically store binary data....
developed first at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
in England), writing diagnostic programs which allowed the team to make necessary adjustments for speed and reliability.
Further collaborating with Pomerene and Y.K. Wong, they invented a fast adder which incorporated a speed up technique for asynchronous adders reducing the time for additive carry-overs to propagate. This design was actually later incorporated in one commercial computer, the Philco
Philco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
TRANSAC S-2000, introduced in 1957, the first commercial transistorized computer.
Gilchrist was married in Princeton in April 1954 and his eldest son was born there in February 1956.
In 1955, John von Neumann left the Institute for Advanced Study to join the United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
(AEC) and so, in the summer of 1956, the group Gilchrist had been working with, broke up.
Later Career
In 1956, Gilchrist accepted an invitation to be an assistant professor of mathematics and the first director of the computer center at Syracuse UniversitySyracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
where they had ordered an IBM 650
IBM 650
The IBM 650 was one of IBM’s early computers, and the world’s first mass-produced computer. It was announced in 1953, and over 2000 systems were produced between the first shipment in 1954 and its final manufacture in 1962...
computer which was delivered a few months after he arrived that summer.
Some time after, he also became involved with the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM) and was elected to its national Council in 1958. This volunteer work put him into contact with a wide variety of computer users across the United States.
In the spring of 1959, he was asked by Dr. Herman H. Goldstine, to join him at IBM Research
IBM Research
IBM Research, a division of IBM, is a research and advanced development organization and currently consists of eight locations throughout the world and hundreds of projects....
as manager of the computing facility. So, Gilchrist joined IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in 1959 where some years later he later became director of planning with its service bureau
Service bureau
A service bureau is a company which provides business services for a fee. The term has been extensively used to describe technology based services to financial services companies, particularly banks. Customers of service bureaus typically do not have the scale or expertise to incorporate these...
subsidiary, Service Bureau Corporation (SBC), from 1963 to 1965. From 1965 to 1968, he was a manager of IBM's Data Processing Division.
Gilchrist served as secretary (1960–1962) and vice president (1962–1964) of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM).
In 1966 he was elected president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and later served as its executive director from 1968 to 1973.
He later became director of the Columbia University Computer Center at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City from 1973 to 1985. He was also a member of the faculty of engineering at Columbia. He retired from Columbia in 1991.
Having moved to Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in northern Westchester County, New York. As of the 2010 census, following a major revision to the delineation of its boundaries by the Census Bureau, the population was 1,436...
in 1959, he continued to be active in civic affairs, holding various positions, such as being on the Chappaqua School Board, and the Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services, among others. From 1986-1989 he was elected supervisor of the town of New Castle, New York
New Castle, New York
New Castle is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 17,569 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.15%, is water. New Castle is bordered by the towns of Mount Pleasant...
.
Gilchrist lived in Chappaqua from 1959 to 2008, after which he moved to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, with his wife, Bette.
Ph.D. Thesis
- Gilchrist, Bruce, “The Application Of The Equations Of Motion To The Solution Of Climatological Problems,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, June 1952
Papers
- Gilchrist, B.; Pomerene, J.; Wong, S.Y., "Fast carry logic for digital computers" IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers, EC-4 (Dec.1955), pp.133-136.
- Esterin, B.; Gilchrist, B.; Pomerene, J. H., "A Note on High Speed Digital Multiplication" IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers, vol. EC-5, p. 140 (1956).
- Gilchrist, Bruce; Weber, Richard E., "Employment of trained computer personnel: a quantitative survey", New York : ACM Press, AFIPS Joint Computer Conferences archive, Proceedings of the May 16–18, 1972, Spring Joint Computer Conference, Atlantic City, New Jersey, pp.641–648.
- Gilchrist, Bruce; Leininger, Joseph E., (editors), Proceedings of the AFIPS/Stanford Conference on Computers, Society, and Law--the Role of Legal Education, June 25-27, 1973, Montvale, N.J. : AFIPS Press, 1973.
- Gilchrist, Bruce; Shenkin, Arlaana, "The impact of scanners on employment in supermarkets", Communications of the ACM, Volume 25 , Issue 7 (July 1982), New York : ACM, pp.441-445.
- Gilchrist, Bruce, "Morality in the computer classroom", ACM SIGUCCS NewsletterSIGUCCSSIGUCCS is an association of professionals who support and manage the diverse aspects of information technology services at higher education institutions by providing professional development opportunities for SIGUCCS members and other individuals in the field...
, Volume 13, Issue 2 (Summer 1983), pp.14-17
- Gilchrist, Bruce, "Remembering Some Early Computers, 1948-1960", Columbia University EPIC, 2006. Contains some autobiographical material on Gilchrist's early involvement with computing.
- Gilchrist, Bruce, "In Memoriam, James Pomerene (1920 - 2008)", New Castle Now, February 6, 2009.
Books
- Gilchrist, Bruce; Wessel, Milton R., Government regulation of the computer industry, Montvale, N.J., AFIPS Press, 1972. ISBN 0-88283-028-7
- Gilchrist, Bruce, The Descendants of CHARLES GILCHRIST and CATHERINE ROBINSON, Baltimore : Gateway Press Inc., 2004. Library of Congress Control Number 2003115956
Links
- Channer, HaroldHarold ChannerHarold Hudson Channer is a talk-show host on public-access television cable TV network Manhattan Neighborhood Network, or MNN. He is the longest-running producer for the network, having done over 2,200 interviews over 40 years...
, "Bruce Gilchrist Ph.D TV Interview with Harold Channer – Air date 05-31-07" - "Columbia Computer Center People 1985" - photo includes Bruce Gilchrist.