The name Cray is to the computer world what Ferrari is to the
automotive world: a synonym for sheer speed and engineering
bravado. Here's the story of the man behind the name, from Murray,
a senior editor at Design News. Seymour Cray was among the young WW
II vets who found an engineering job at Minnesota-based ERA, one of
the companies that grew up in response to the continuing military
demand for advanced computers. He was almost immediately recognized
as a genius. Cray combined a quick grasp of theory with the
willingness to sit and hard-wire his own circuits. It was his
recognition, in 1954, that transistor technology allowed both
greater speed and reliability that catapulted him into the front
rank of industrial genius. Moving to the newly founded Control Data
Company, at age 35 Cray produced the CDC 1604, the fastest machine
ever built. Impatient with the corporate rituals of meetings,
lunches, and political maneuvering, Cray soon moved CDC's research
facilities to Chippewa Falls, Minn., and continued to design faster
and faster machines. His design philosophy was unique: He insisted
on building every new computer from the ground up, while resisting
the temptation to base his designs on untried technology.
Eventually his independence led him away from CDC to found Cray
Research. The Cray 1, the first computer to adopt
integrated-circuit technology, became the instant standard by which
all other machines were judged. But by 1989, Cray's maverick ways
led him to split from his own company, searching for even faster
and better computers. By then, though, the loss of Cold War funding
had changed the economic landscape; there were no longer customers
willing to pay whatever it cost to get the fastest possible
machine. The Cray 4, his last completed design, never reached the
marketplace. Murray tells the story of Cra), compellingly, and few
readers will be able to close the book without a regret at the
passing of an age when such independent giants could rule the
world. (Kirkus Reviews)
The SUPERMEN "After a rare speech at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, in 1976, programmers in
the audience had suddenly fallen silent when Cray offered to answer
questions. He stood there for several minutes, waiting for their
queries, but none came. When he left, the head of NCAR's computing
division chided the programmers. 'Why didn't someone raise a hand?'
After a tense moment, one programmer replied, 'How do you talk to
God?'" -from The SUPERMEN The Story of Seymour Cray and the
Technical Wizards behind the Supercomputer "They were building
revolutionary, not evolutionary, machines...They were blazing a
trail-molding science into a product...The freedom to create was
extraordinary." -from The Supermen In 1951, a soft-spoken, skinny
young man fresh from the University of Minnesota took a job in an
old glider factory in St. Paul. Computer technology would never be
the same, for the glider factory was the home of Engineering
Research Associates and the recent college grad was Seymour R.
Cray. During his extraordinary career, Cray would be alternately
hailed as "the Albert Einstein," "the Thomas Edison," and "the Evel
Knievel" of supercomputing. At various times, he was all three-a
master craftsman, inventor, and visionary whose disdain for the
rigors of corporate life became legendary, and whose achievements
remain unsurpassed. The Supermen is award-winning writer Charles J.
Murray's exhilarating account of how the brilliant-some would say
eccentric-Cray and his gifted colleagues blazed the trail that led
to the Information Age. This is a thrilling, real-life scientific
adventure, deftly capturing the daring, seat-of-the-pants spirit of
the early days of computer development, as well as an audacious,
modern-day David and Goliath battle, in which a group of maverick
engineers beat out IBM to become the runaway industry leaders.
Murray's briskly paced narrative begins during the final months of
the Second World War, when men such as William Norris and Howard
Engstrom began researching commercial applications for the
code-breaking machines of wartime, and charts the rise of
technological research in response to the Cold War. In those days
computers were huge, cumbersome machines with names like Demon and
Atlas. When Cray came on board, things quickly changed. Drawing on
in-depth interviews-including the last interview Cray completed
before his untimely and tragic death-Murray provides rare insight
into Cray's often controversial approach to his work. Cray could
spend exhausting hours in single-minded pursuit of a particular
goal, and Murray takes us behind the scenes to witness late-night
brainstorming sessions and miraculous eleventh-hour fixes. Cray's
casual, often hostile attitude toward management, although
alienating to some, was more than a passionate need for
independence; he simply thought differently than others. Seymour
Cray saw farther and faster, and trusted his vision with an
unassailable confidence. Yet he inspired great loyalty as well,
making it possible for his own start-up company, Cray Research, to
bring the 54,000-employee conglomerate of Control Data to its
knees. Ultimately, The Supermen is a story of genius, and how a
unique set of circumstances-a small-team approach, corporate
detachment, and a government-backed marketplace-enabled that genius
to flourish. In an atmosphere of unparalleled freedom and
creativity, Seymour Cray's vision and drive fueled a technological
revolution from which America would emerge as the world's leader in
supercomputing.
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