Frederick P. Brooks Jr., a prolific laptop or computer scientist and longtime professor of pc science, died on 17 November at the age of 91.
Although performing as a project supervisor at IBM in the 1960s, the IEEE Existence Fellow led the improvement of the Process/360 laptop relatives. It was the first vertically appropriate relatives of mainframe pcs. Brooks also created IBM’s OS/360, the world’s biggest application project at the time. He is credited with coining the expression laptop architecture, which is used to describe how hardware and program are arranged to make up a computer program and the operations which information its purpose. He wrote The Mythical Guy-Month, a reserve of essays revealed in 1975 that in-depth lessons he uncovered from issues he faced while producing the OS/360.
Brooks remaining IBM in 1964 to located the University of North Carolina’s laptop science department in Chapel Hill.
While he retired from training in 2013, Brooks was continue to lively in the university’s research program in virtual environmentsand scientific visualization until finally 2020.
Breakthroughs at IBM
Following earning a bachelor’s diploma in physics in 1953 from Duke College, in Durham, N.C., Brooks gained a Ph.D. in utilized mathematics in 1956 from Harvard. He done his dissertation—the growth of a laptop that could do payrolls—under the supervision of laptop or computer pioneer Howard Aiken, who experienced intended IBM’s Harvard Mark I laptop.
Brooks joined IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1957. His to start with assignment was doing the job on the IBM 7030. Recognized as Extend, it was the initial transistorized supercomputer. Even though commercially unsuccessful, Stretch encouraged technologies applied in inventions these kinds of as instruction pipelining and memory interleaving. Brooks also made Harvest, IBM’s 7030 character-processing auxiliary processor.
His next job was the IBM 8000 series of computer systems. In 1961 IBM deemed the challenge a failure and terminated it.
That same 12 months, Brooks was tasked with primary the growth of a loved ones of typical-goal units for both of those commercial and scientific applications. Right before the launch of IBM Method/360, laptop or computer devices had been incompatible with each individual other, even if they were being produced by the same company. Application and peripherals from aged systems would not work with new kinds, generating it pricey for consumers to improve their components, in accordance to an IBM posting about the technological innovation.
The Technique/360, introduced in 1964, contained six processor designs with 40 peripherals. The line was named the 360 since it dealt with the needs of all sorts of customers. Within five decades of its release, a lot more than 3,000 models had been bought, and it generated far more than US $100 billion in income by means of the mid-1980s, in accordance to the IBM article.
The process also popularized the idea of a computer up grade and introduced the industry typical of the 8-little bit byte, for which Brooks was dependable. The 8-little bit byte enabled a laptop to run software program that manufactured both of those higher- and decreased-case characters.
Thanks to the achievements of the program, Brooks was appointed direct developer of the 360 loved ones of operating methods. The OS/360 was the forerunner of Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android software systems.
When Brooks joined the University of North Carolina, he was its first professor of laptop science. He served as division chair for 20 several years, and he taught and conducted exploration at the college for far more than 50 several years. His exploration concentrated largely on interactive laptop or computer graphics and virtual actuality.
“Many in the division and further than appreciated the fact that in a world full of academic levels of competition and investigation silos, Brooks fostered a departmental society of open up collaboration and regard,” says Mary C. Whitton, a retired University of North Carolina investigation professor. The IEEE daily life senior member labored closely with Brooks for much more than two many years.
The Turing Award and the Nationwide Medal of Technology
Brooks was honored various occasions for his pioneering operate. He was awarded the 1993 IEEE John von Neumann Medal and acquired two awards from the IEEE Computer system Modern society: the 1980 Gals of ENIAC Laptop or computer Pioneer Award and the 1970 W. Wallace McDowell Award.
He been given the 1999 A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery, recognised as the Nobel Prize of computing. He was honored for “landmark contributions to personal computer architecture, functioning programs, and computer software engineering.”
Brooks also obtained the 1985 U.S. Nationwide Medal of Technology together with his IBM colleagues Bob Evans and Erich Bloch for the improvement of System/360. The award was given to them by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
