Erwin Tomash, is the co-founder of Dataproducts

Dataproducts

Dataproducts Corporation was an early manufacturer of computer peripheral equipment.Initially known as Data Products, the company was founded by Erwin Tomash in 1962 in order to take controlling interest of Telex's Data Systems Division. The division was behind on a contract to deliver disk files...

 Corporation which specialized in computer technology, specifically printers. He is recognized for his early pioneering work with computer equipment peripherals, and is responsible for The Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information Technology, The Erwin Tomash Library, and has also contributed towards the formation of the Charles Babbage Institute

Charles Babbage Institute

The 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....

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Education

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Erwin Tomash graduated from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 with his electrical engineering degree in 1943.

Early life

Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota, Tomash joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps, where he worked with radar, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his wartime activities, which had demobilized him. Following his time with the Army Signal Corps, Tomash served at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory

Naval Ordnance Laboratory

The Naval Ordnance Laboratory , now disestablished, formerly located in White Oak, Maryland was the site of considerable work that had practical impact upon world technology. The White Oak site of NOL has now been taken over by the Food and Drug Administration.-History:The U.S...

 briefly, before joining the Engineering Research Associates

Engineering Research Associates

Engineering Research Associates, commonly known as ERA, was a pioneering computer firm from the 1950s. They became famous for their numerical computers, but as the market expanded they became better known for their drum memory systems. They were eventually purchased by Remington Rand and merged...

. As a research associate, he worked on developing electronic computers, including the ERA 1103 or UNIVAC Scientific. In 1956 he joined Telemeter Magnetic in Los Angeles. He became the company's president soon after and oversaw Telemeter Magnetics' design of core memories for computers. In 1962 he left Telemeter Magnetic, and co-founded Dataproducts Corporation.

Dataproducts Corporation

Dataproducts

Dataproducts

Dataproducts Corporation was an early manufacturer of computer peripheral equipment.Initially known as Data Products, the company was founded by Erwin Tomash in 1962 in order to take controlling interest of Telex's Data Systems Division. The division was behind on a contract to deliver disk files...

 Corporation was co-founded by Erwin Tomash in 1962, and specialized in computer peripherals, with a focus in printers. In 1966, core memory was added to the product line, and due to its resulting expansion, the company relocated to Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California in 1968. The company acquired Staff Dynamics, a personnel agency, and Uptime, a manufacturer of card readers. By 1970 the company had become the world's leading independent printer manufacturer. In 1971 Graham Tyson replaced Tomash as CEO.

Awards/Accomplishments

In 1987 Erwin Tomash was honored by the IEEE Computer Society, and received the Computer Entrepreneur Award in recognition of his early pioneering work with computer equipment peripherals.

Erwin and his wife Adelle Tomash were instrumental in establishing the Charles Babbage Institute

Charles Babbage Institute

The 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....

, which honorably named a highly regarded library, archives, a fellowship program, after them as well as the CBI Reprint Series.

Erwin and Adelle Tomash, as well as the Tomash Family Foundation, were recognized in a 2009-2010 philanthropy report by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) as having contributed a gift of $1,000 or more to specific programs at the university.

The Erwin Tomash Library

The Erwin Tomash Library on The History of Computing is an annotated and illustrated catalog documenting a collection of books and manuscripts related to the history of computing. It was assembled, over the course of many years, by Erwin Tomash using his knowledge as a pioneer in the development of computers. The collection consists of over five thousand items from twelfth century manuscripts to modern publications, and documents the rarest items together with a series of essays that explain the uses of little known instruments and techniques that are discussed in the entries. Each entry consists of the bibliographic details, some biographical information on the author, a description of the contents, and illustrations of interesting pages and diagrams. The catalog is almost 1600 pages long. The library catalogue can be found on the IEEE Computer Society website as well as the CBI website A portion of the Erwin Tomash Library (post-1954 volumes) was donated to CBI and is publicly accessible there at the University of Minnesota.

The Tomash Fellowship

The Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information Technology is awarded to a graduate student for doctoral dissertation research in the history of computing. The fellowship is to be held at the recipient's home academic institution, the Charles Babbage Institute, or any other location with appropriate research facilities. It is intended for students who have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except the research and writing of the dissertation.