Cuthbert Hurd

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Cuthbert Hurd, IBM Archives.
Cuthbert Hurd, IBM Archives.

Cuthbert Corwin Hurd (April 5, 1911 - May 22, 1996) was an American computer scientist and entrepreneur, who was instrumental in helping the International Business Machines Corporation develop its first general-purpose computer.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Hurt was born in Estherville, Iowa. 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. His post doctoratework was done at Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He started working as mathematician at the atomic energy facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he taught and served as a technical research head. From 1949 to 1962 he worked at IBM, where he founded the Applied Science Department and pushed reluctant management into the world of computing.[2] Hurd later became director of the IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines Division.

After 1962 he served as chairman of the Computer Usage Company, the first independent computer software company, until 1974 when he formed Cuthbert C. Hurd Associates. From 1978 to 1986, Hurd served as chairman for Picodyne Corporation. Hurd was a founder, president, and chairman of Quintus Computer Systems from 1984 until October 1989 when Quintus was acquired by Intergraph.[2]

In 1986 Cuthbert C. Hurd received the Computer Pioneer Award by the Computer Society for his contributions to early computing.

[edit] Work

[edit] IBM

Hurt joined I.B.M. in 1949 as its director of applied science. At Oak Ridge he had have experience dealing with the installation of an IBM 602 to start the data handling problems. He joined the staff of IBM to evaluate the combination of the 603 and the 405.[3] A year later Hurd and James Birkenstock recommended that the company design and build a general-purpose computer, bearing the heavy expense itself so that I.B.M. would own the patents. Hurt was a key advisor to Thomas Watson on the development of the machine.

Tom Watson was president of IBM. He directed the IBM engineering and research organization to develop what became the Defense Calculator (701), and his early recognition of the need for mass-produced electronic computers speeded the development of the 701.[4]

Hurt assessed military computing requirements and was instrumental in applying those requirements to a single machine. The new machine, the IBM 701, cost $3 million to develop and was introduced in 1952, putting I.B.M. on the path to becoming the dominant force in the computer industry. Hurd had enabled the company to enter new technical markets that had been created by federal research and defense expenditures. Hurd went on to help develop several other I.B.M. computers.[1]

[edit] Publications

Hurd edited a few books and wrote several articles:

  • 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.
About Cuthbert Hurd
  • 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.
  • 1986, Cuthbert C. Hurd, "Prologue," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 6-7, Jan-Mar, 1986
  • 1995, J.A.N. Lee, "Cuthbert C. Hurd," in: Computer Pioneers. Los Altimos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, page 389.
  • 1996, "Update," in: Computer, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 92-94, Jul., 1996
  • 1982, Atsushi Akera, "IBM’s Early Adaptation to Cold War Markets: Cuthbert Hurd and His Applied Science Field Men", in: Business History Review, Vol 72, Issue 4 (winter 2002), pp 767–802.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Laurance Zuckerman (1996), Cuthbert Hurd, 85, Computer Pioneer at I.B.M. Published: June 2, 1996
  2. ^ a b "Cuthbert C. Hurd," in J.A.N. Lee, Computer Pioneers (Los Altimos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1995), 389.
  3. ^ Computer Oral History Collection, 1969-1973, 1977, Retrieved 14 April 2008
  4. ^ Team 701, IBM Archives, retrieved 15 April 2008.

[edit] External links