Milestones In Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series

Mr. Robert Everett
Retired President of MITRE Corporation

October 17, 2003
11 a.m. - 12 noon
Olin Hall, Room 107, 1st Floor,
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA

For Information & Directions call: (508) 831-5357 or visit www.cs.wpi.edu

Presents

The Whirlwind and SAGE - A Pre-Cursor to the Design of Large Scale Distributed Systems

Abstract

Bob Everett was involved in the early development of electronic digital computers and their application to real-time control and information systems. He will describe some of his experiences during the development of both the Whirlwind computer and the SAGE air defense system in the 1940's and 50's.

Design of the Whirlwind computer began in 1944 and was headed by Professor Emeritus Jay Forrester, Whirlwind was the first digital computer built specifically for real-time control. As part of this project a critical innovation, that of magnetic core memories, was invented. Magnetic core memory, which replaced vacuum tubes and mercury delay, lines with a much more compact and reliable technology. In the 1970's semiconductor memories replaced core memories in almost all applications. However, even then, magnetic cores remained in use for many years in mission-critical and high-reliability applications such as the Apollo Guidance Computer.

Subsequently, the Whirlwind computer became the "brain" for the Semi- Automatic Ground Environment (S.A.G.E.) air defense system developed by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in the 1950s. The SAGE system coordinated the complex system of radar, aircraft, telephone lines, radio links and ships that would detect and identify aircraft when they entered US airspace. The SAGE project enabled the American computer industry to learn how to build large, interconnected, real- time data processing systems-a direct descendent of SAGE is the computer system used to make airline reservations."

Biography

Robert Everett was born in 1921and was educated at Duke University (BSEE '42) and at MIT (SMEE '43). During WW2, he worked at the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory on the development of stabilized radar mounts. In 1945 he became engaged, as associate to Jay W Forrester, in the development of the Whirlwind I, the first computer designed for real-time applications. In 1951 he joined the newly formed MIT Lincoln Laboratory as Associate Head of the Computer Division, which was responsible for the design of the SAGE air defense system, the first in a series of large computer based military information systems.

In 1958 he transferred along with the SAGE program to the newly formed MITRE corporation, a non-profit systems engineering company dedicated to assisting the Department of Defense and other government agencies with the design and implementation of their information systems.

He retired from MITRE as president in 1986. Since then he has served on numerous study groups, advisory boards as well as Boards of Directors and Trustees. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has been awarded the National Medal of Technology.

Host

Fernando C. Colon Osorio

Refreshments will be served.

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