1995 Fellow Awards Recipient
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For his perfecting of core memory technology into a practical computer memory device; for fundamental contributions to early computer systems design and development.
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Jay W. Forrester
Graduating with an M.S. degree from MIT in 1945, Jay Forrester worked on a number of analog computer projects for the U.S. Navy. In 1948, when the demands of an aircraft stability analyzer appeard to outstrip the analog computing techniques of the day, Forrester began work on a digital machine, the Whirlwind I. It would advance the state of the computer art in many fundamental ways, including the development of high-speed circuits.
The Whirlwind was the first "real-time" computer, made possible by Forrester's development of "coincident-current" magnetic core memory, which remained the dominant memory technology until the 1970's. He is currently involved with the System Dynamics approach to education.