George Pake
Encyclopedia
George Pake was a physicist and research executive primarily known for helping found Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC
PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....

. Pake earned his bachelors and masters degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...

 and his doctorate in physics at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1948.

A rather serious case of scoliosis
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an "S" or a "C" than a straight line...

 kept Pake out of the U.S. Armed Forces 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...

.

Pake was raised in Kent, Ohio; his father was an English instructor at Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

.
Though he never again lived in Kent after his childhood, George Pake retained deep feeling for the city of Kent, and was pleased to be asked in later years to deliver the commencement address at Kent State.

After four years as a physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 professor at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

, Pake became the head of the physics department at age 28. He later went on to become provost of the university from 1962 to 1970 before leaving to serve as founding director of Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC
PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....

.

PARC assembled a first-rate collection of research talent, especially in the area of computer science. During Dr. Pake's years running Xerox PARC, the research center invented the laser printer
Laser printer
A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers , laser printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced...

 and pioneered the use of a computer "desktop" which functioned by clicking on "icons."
This has since become the computer industry standard.

If the Xerox Corporation
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

 never chose to open a computer division, it was through no lack of advocacy by George Pake. Nevertheless, the failure of that advocacy is well-known in Silicon Valley circles.

Pake was a recipient of the National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...

 in 1987 and continued to visit PARC long after his 1986 retirement from Xerox.

George Pake died of multiple systems failure on March 4, 2004 in Tucson, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

Late in life, Pake began writing two different books, both with the collaborator Andrew Szanton
Andrew Szanton
Andrew Szanton is an American collaborative memoirist. During his career he has worked with a wide range of subjects including civil rights pioneer Charles Evers, Nobel Prize winning physicist Eugene Wigner, former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs John Whitehead, former United States Senator Edward...

. One of Pake's books was a life memoir, the other a book of advice for those running research centers, "think tanks" or other small groups of highly intelligent and independent people, and trying to coax them to work collectively to achieve organizational goals. George Pake's death interrupted both book projects.

External links

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