Cuthbert Hurd
Encyclopedia
Cuthbert Corwin Hurd was an American computer scientist
and entrepreneur
, who was instrumental in helping the International Business Machines Corporation develop its first general-purpose computers.
. He received his B.A.
in mathematics
from Drake University
in 1932, his M.S.
in mathematics from Iowa State College in 1934, and his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1936. Waldemar Joseph Trjitzinsky was his advisor, and dissertation was Asymptotic theory of linear differential equations singular in the variable of differentiation and in a parameter.
He did post doctorate work at Columbia University
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).
He was assistant professor at Michigan State University
from 1936 to 1942.
During World War II
Hurd taught at the US Coast Guard Academy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander
, and co-authored the textbook for teaching Mathematics to mariners. From 1945 to 1947 he was dean of Allegheny College
.
In 1947 he moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee
, where he worked for Union Carbide
as mathematician at the United States Atomic Energy Commission
facility Oak Ridge National Laboratory
. He taught and later served as a technical research head under Alston Scott Householder
. At Oak Ridge he supervised the installation of an IBM 602
calculating punched card
machine to automate the tracking of material in the facility, and saw the potential for automating the massive amounts of computation needed for nuclear Physics
research. In February 1948 he was invited to the dedication of the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), a custom-built machine in New York
city. He asked if the SSEC could be used for calculations being done at Oak Ridge for the NEPA
project to power an airplane with a nuclear reactor, but the demands for the SSEC produced a backlog. In the meanwhile, he requested that the first IBM 604
calculating card punch be delivered to Oak Ridge. It was, but the calculations remained slow with the limited electronics in the 604.
, where he founded the Applied Science Department and pushed reluctant management into the world of computing.
Hurd hired John von Neumann
as a consultant. The eccentric genius was known for his fast driving, and IBM often would pay von Neumann's traffic fines. They developed a personal friendship, with Hurd visiting von Neumann in Walter Reed Army Medical Center
as he was dying of cancer
.
At the time, IBM calculators were programmed by plugging and unplugging wires manually into large panels. The concept of storing the program as well as data in computer memory was generally called the Von Neumann architecture
(although others developed the concept about the same time).
IBM had built the experimental stored-program SSEC, but company president Thomas J. Watson
favored basing commercial products on punched card technology with manual programming. Hurd hired a team who would be the first professional computer software
writers, such as John Backus
and Fred Brooks
.
The first step was to offer a calculator that could be programmed on punch cards in addition to a manual plugboard. This was the Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator
, announced in May 1949. It was essentially a commercialized version of experiments done by Wallace John Eckert
and customers at Northrop Corporation
, but became a very popular product, shipping several thousand units in various models.
Based on this demand, Hurd advised new company president Tom Watson, Jr. to build the first IBM commercial stored program computer, first called the Defense Calculator. It was marketed as the IBM 701
in 1952.
There were 18 model 701 machines built (in addition to the Engineering development machine).
In 1953 Hurd convinced IBM management to develop what became the IBM 650
Magnetic Drum Data Processing Machine.
Although the UNIVAC I
(and Ferranti Mark 1 in England) had been introduced earlier than any IBM computer, its high price (while IBM offered monthly leases) limited sales. The lower expense of the 650 meant it could be purchased in much larger quantities. Almost 2000 were produced between 1953 and 1962, to commercial customers as well as academics.
On January 19, 1955 Hurd became director of the IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines Division when T. Vincent Learson
was promoted to Vice President of Sales. In 1955, Hurd made a proposal to Edward Teller
for a computer to be used at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. This would evolve into the IBM "Stretch" project. The ambitious promises made for the performance of the machine were not met when it was finally delivered in 1961 as the model 7030, although techniques developed and lessons learned in its design were used on other IBM products.
, the first independent computer software company, and president from 1970 through 1974.
He then consulted for various firms in Silicon valley
, and served as an expert witness in the IBM antritrust cases. From 1978 to 1986, Hurd served as chairman for Picodyne Corporation, which he co-founded with H. Dean Brown
.
Hurd was a founder of Quintus Computer Systems in 1983 with William Kornfeld, Lawrence Byrd, Fernando Perreira and David H. D. Warren
to commercialize a Prolog
compiler.
Hurd was president and chairman until Quintus was sold to Intergraph
Corporation in October 1989.
In 1967 Drake awarded him an honorary LLD
degree.
In 1986 Cuthbert C. Hurd received the IEEE Computer Pioneer award
by the IEEE Computer Society
for his contributions to early computing.
In his later life he lived in Portola Valley, California
, became an avid gardener and studied native California plants. A variety of Arctostaphylos manzanita
is named Dr. Hurd for him. He died there May 22, 1996.
He endowed scholarships in Mathematics and Computer Science at Stanford University
.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, who was instrumental in helping the International Business Machines Corporation develop its first general-purpose computers.
Life
Hurd was born April 5, 1911 in Estherville, IowaEstherville, Iowa
Estherville is a city in Emmet County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,360 in the 2010 census, a decline from 6,656 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Emmet County. Estherville is home to the main campus of Iowa Lakes Community College...
. He received his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from Drake University
Drake University
Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....
in 1932, his M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in mathematics from Iowa State College in 1934, and his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1936. Waldemar Joseph Trjitzinsky was his advisor, and dissertation was Asymptotic theory of linear differential equations singular in the variable of differentiation and in a parameter.
He did post doctorate work 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...
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT).
He was assistant professor at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
from 1936 to 1942.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Hurd taught at the US Coast Guard Academy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
, and co-authored the textbook for teaching Mathematics to mariners. From 1945 to 1947 he was dean of Allegheny College
Allegheny College
Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the town of Meadville. Founded in 1815, the college has about 2,100 undergraduate students.-Early history:...
.
In 1947 he moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
, where he worked for Union Carbide
Union Carbide
Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
as mathematician at 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...
facility Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
. He taught and later served as a technical research head under Alston Scott Householder
Alston Scott Householder
Alston Scott Householder was an American mathematician who specialized in mathematical biology and numerical analysis, inventor of the Householder transformation and of Householder's method...
. At Oak Ridge he supervised the installation of an IBM 602
IBM 602
The IBM 602 Calculating Punch , introduced in 1946, was an electromechanical calculator capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It was programmed using a plugboard control panel and was IBM's first machine that did division....
calculating punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
machine to automate the tracking of material in the facility, and saw the potential for automating the massive amounts of computation needed for nuclear Physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
research. In February 1948 he was invited to the dedication of the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), a custom-built machine in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
city. He asked if the SSEC could be used for calculations being done at Oak Ridge for the NEPA
Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion
The Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program and the preceding Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft project worked to develop a nuclear propulsion system for aircraft. The United States Army Air Force initiated Project NEPA on May 28, 1946...
project to power an airplane with a nuclear reactor, but the demands for the SSEC produced a backlog. In the meanwhile, he requested that the first IBM 604
IBM 604
The IBM 604 was a control panel programmable Electronic Calculating Punch introduced in 1948, and was a machine on which considerable expectations for the future of IBM were pinned and in which a corresponding amount of planning talent was invested...
calculating card punch be delivered to Oak Ridge. It was, but the calculations remained slow with the limited electronics in the 604.
IBM
From 1949 to 1962 he worked at IBMIBM
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...
, where he founded the Applied Science Department and pushed reluctant management into the world of computing.
Hurd hired 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,...
as a consultant. The eccentric genius was known for his fast driving, and IBM often would pay von Neumann's traffic fines. They developed a personal friendship, with Hurd visiting von Neumann in Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
as he was dying of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
At the time, IBM calculators were programmed by plugging and unplugging wires manually into large panels. The concept of storing the program as well as data in computer memory was generally called the Von Neumann architecture
Von Neumann architecture
The term Von Neumann architecture, aka the Von Neumann model, derives from a computer architecture proposal by the mathematician and early computer scientist John von Neumann and others, dated June 30, 1945, entitled First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC...
(although others developed the concept about the same time).
IBM had built the experimental stored-program SSEC, but company president Thomas J. Watson
Thomas J. Watson
Thomas John Watson, Sr. was president of International Business Machines , who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956...
favored basing commercial products on punched card technology with manual programming. Hurd hired a team who would be the first professional computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
writers, such as John Backus
John Backus
John Warner Backus was an American computer scientist. He directed the team that invented the first widely used high-level programming language and was the inventor of the Backus-Naur form , the almost universally used notation to define formal language syntax.He also did research in...
and Fred Brooks
Fred Brooks
Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr. is a software engineer and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of IBM's System/360 family of computers and the OS/360 software support package, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book The Mythical Man-Month...
.
The first step was to offer a calculator that could be programmed on punch cards in addition to a manual plugboard. This was the Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator
IBM CPC
The IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator or CPC was announced by IBM in May 1949. Later that year an improved machine, the CPC-II was also announced.The original CPC Calculator had the following machines interconnected by cables:...
, announced in May 1949. It was essentially a commercialized version of experiments done by Wallace John Eckert
Wallace John Eckert
Wallace John Eckert was an American astronomer, who directed the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau at Columbia University which evolved into the research division of IBM.-Life:...
and customers at Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...
, but became a very popular product, shipping several thousand units in various models.
Based on this demand, Hurd advised new company president Tom Watson, Jr. to build the first IBM commercial stored program computer, first called the Defense Calculator. It was marketed as the IBM 701
IBM 701
The IBM 701, known as the Defense Calculator while in development, was announced to the public on April 29, 1952, and was IBM’s first commercial scientific computer...
in 1952.
There were 18 model 701 machines built (in addition to the Engineering development machine).
In 1953 Hurd convinced IBM management to develop what became the 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...
Magnetic Drum Data Processing Machine.
Although the UNIVAC I
UNIVAC I
The UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer produced in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC...
(and Ferranti Mark 1 in England) had been introduced earlier than any IBM computer, its high price (while IBM offered monthly leases) limited sales. The lower expense of the 650 meant it could be purchased in much larger quantities. Almost 2000 were produced between 1953 and 1962, to commercial customers as well as academics.
On January 19, 1955 Hurd became director of the IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines Division when T. Vincent Learson
T. Vincent Learson
Thomas Vincent Learson was IBM's chairman and chief executive officer from June 1971 through January 1973. He was succeeded by Frank Cary. Both the previous chairman Thomas Watson, Jr...
was promoted to Vice President of Sales. In 1955, Hurd made a proposal to Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
for a computer to be used at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. This would evolve into the IBM "Stretch" project. The ambitious promises made for the performance of the machine were not met when it was finally delivered in 1961 as the model 7030, although techniques developed and lessons learned in its design were used on other IBM products.
California
After 1962 he served as chairman of the Computer Usage CompanyComputer Usage Company
Computer Usage Company , sometimes called Computer Usage Corporation, was the first independent company to market computer software.-History:...
, the first independent computer software company, and president from 1970 through 1974.
He then consulted for various firms in Silicon valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, and served as an expert witness in the IBM antritrust cases. From 1978 to 1986, Hurd served as chairman for Picodyne Corporation, which he co-founded with H. Dean Brown
H. Dean Brown
Harold Dean Brown was a scientist in the United States. His fields ranged from physics and mathematics to computer software and philosophy.-Biography:Harold Dean Brown was born in North Dakota on August 13, 1927....
.
Hurd was a founder of Quintus Computer Systems in 1983 with William Kornfeld, Lawrence Byrd, Fernando Perreira and David H. D. Warren
David H. D. Warren
David H. D. Warren is a computer scientist .In the 1970s and 1980s he worked primarily on logic programming and in particular the programming language Prolog. Warren wrote the first compiler for Prolog...
to commercialize a Prolog
Prolog
Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: the program logic is expressed in terms of...
compiler.
Hurd was president and chairman until Quintus was sold to Intergraph
Intergraph
Intergraph Corporation is an American software development and services company. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the world. Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine and Security,...
Corporation in October 1989.
In 1967 Drake awarded him an honorary LLD
Legum Doctor
Legum Doctor is a doctorate-level academic degree in law, or an honorary doctorate, depending on the jurisdiction. The double L in the abbreviation refers to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both Canon Law and Civil Law, the double L indicating the plural, Doctor of both...
degree.
In 1986 Cuthbert C. Hurd received the IEEE Computer Pioneer award
IEEE Computer Pioneer award
The Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 by the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society to recognize and honor the vision of those people whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry...
by the IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is a professional society of IEEE. Its purpose and scope is “to advance the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing science and technology” and the “professional standing of its members.” The CS is the largest of 38 technical societies...
for his contributions to early computing.
In his later life he lived in Portola Valley, California
Portola Valley, California
Portola Valley is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 4,353 at the 2010 census. It was named for Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola, who led the first party of Europeans to explore the San Francisco Peninsula, in 1769.Portola Valley is one of the...
, became an avid gardener and studied native California plants. A variety of Arctostaphylos manzanita
Arctostaphylos manzanita
One of many species of manzanita, Arctostaphylos manzanita has the common names Common manzanita and Whiteleaf manzanita.Arctostaphylos manzanita is endemic to California, where it can be found in the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada foothills...
is named Dr. Hurd for him. He died there May 22, 1996.
He endowed scholarships in Mathematics and Computer Science at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
Publications
- 1943, Mathematics for Mariners with Chester E. Dimick. New York: D Van Nostrand Company Inc, 1943.
- 1950, "The IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator" in: Proceedings, Seminar on Scientific Computation November, 1949, IBM, p. 37-41.
- 1955, "Mechanical Translation: New Challenge to Communication Ornstein", in: Science 21 October 1955: pp. 745–748.
- 1983. Special Issue: The IBM 701 Thirtieth Anniversary - IBM Enters the Computing Field, Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 5 (No. 2), 1983
- 1985, "A note on early Monte Carlo computations and scientific meetings", in: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing archive, Volume 7, Issue 2 (April 1985) pp 141–155.
- 1986, "Prologue," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 6–7, Jan-Mar, 1986
See also
- History of computingHistory of computingThe history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables...
- Timeline of computingTimeline of computingThis article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of computing. For a narrative explaining the overall developments, see the related history of computing hardware and history of computer science....
- History of computing hardwareHistory of computing hardwareThe history of computing hardware is the record of the ongoing effort to make computer hardware faster, cheaper, and capable of storing more data....
- IBM 700/7000 seriesIBM 700/7000 seriesThe IBM 700/7000 series was a series of large-scale computer systems made by IBM through the 1950s and early 1960s. The series included several different, incompatible processor architectures. The 700s used vacuum tube logic and were made obsolete by the introduction of the transistorized 7000s...
Further reading
- 1954, "Russian is turned into English by a fast electronic translator" by Robert K.Plumb in: New York Times, 8 January 1954, p. 1 (front page),col.5.
- 1996, "Update," in: Computer, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 92–94, Jul., 1996
External links
- Cuthbert C. Hurd Papers, 1946-1992 at the Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota. - Oral history interviews with Cuthbert Hurd, Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota. Hurd discusses International Business Machines research in computer technology, IBM's support for academic research on computers, and his own work at IBM—especially on the IBM 701, 704 and 705 computers. He also describes John von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn 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,...
and his contributions to the development of computer technology. Discusses interactions with Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
and Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
.