Cray Research, Inc.

Seymour Cray began his career as an engineer for Engineering Research Associates (ERA) and then with Univac when that company purchased ERA. He soon left to become one of the founders of Control Data Corporation (CDC) where he was the lead designer of many of the most powerful computers of the day (e.g., CDC 6600).

In 1972, he founded Cray Research and his first computer, the Cray-1 delivered in 1976, became an icon of the supercomputer age. Many other supercomputers followed and the company became known for selling the fastest commercially available computer at any given time.

Cray died in an automobile accident in 1996 and the company was sold to Silicon Graphics which later merged with Tera Computer Company in 2000. That same year, Tera re-named itself Cray, Inc.