Heinz Billing
Heinz Billing (born April 7, 1914) is a German physicist and computer scientist, widely considered a pioneer in the construction of computer systems and data storage.
Biography
Billing was born in Salzwedel, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. After studying mathematics and physics in Göttingen he received his doctorate in 1938 in Munich at the age of 24.
Billing worked at the Aerodynamic Research Institute in Göttingen, where he invented the magnetic drum memory.
According to Billing's memoirs, published by Genscher, Düsseldorf (1997), there was a meeting between Alan Turing and Konrad Zuse.[1] It took place in Göttingen in 1947. The interrogation had the form of a colloquium. Participants were Womersley, Turing, Porter from England and a few German researchers like Zuse, Walther, and Billing. (For more details see Herbert Bruderer, Konrad Zuse und die Schweiz).
After a brief stay at the University of Sydney, Billing returned to join the Max Planck Institute for Physics in 1951. From 1952 through 1961 the group under Billing's direction constructed a series of four digital computers: the G1, G2, G1a, and G3.
In 1993 the annual Heinz Billing Award for the Promotion of Scientific Computing was established in his honor, with a 5000 Euro prize.
On 3 October 1943 he married Anneliese Oetker. Billing has three children: Heiner Erhard Billing (born November 18, 1944 in Salzwedel), Dorit Gerda Gronefeld Billing (born June 27, 1946 in Göttingen) and Arend Gerd Billing (born September 19, 1954 in Göttingen).
References
- ↑ Herbert Bruderer. "Did Alan Turing interrogate Konrad Zuse in Göttingen in 1947?" (PDF). Retrieved 7 February 2013.
|