Harry Huskey

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Harry Huskey
ACM Fellow (1994)
Computer History Museum Fellow (2013)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of California
University of Pennsylvania
Thesis Contributions to the Problem of Geocze  (1943)
Doctoral studentsButler Lampson
Niklaus Wirth

Harry Douglas Huskey (January 19, 1916 – April 9, 2017) was an American computer design pioneer.

Early life and career

Huskey was born in

PhD in 1943 from the Ohio State University on Contributions to the Problem of Geöcze.[2] Huskey taught mathematics to U.S. Navy students at the University of Pennsylvania and then worked part-time on the early ENIAC and EDVAC computers in 1945. This work represented his first formal introduction to computers, according to his obituary in The New York Times.[3]

He visited the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom for a year and worked on the Pilot ACE computer with Alan Turing and others. He was also involved with the EDVAC and SEAC computer projects.

Huskey designed and managed the construction of the

Bendix Aviation Corporation, a 950 pounds (430 kg) machine, operable by one person.[4] He had one at his home that is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

After five years at the National Bureau of Standards, Huskey joined the faculty of the

Cambridge University
.

Huskey was

Professor Emeritus at the University of California after his retirement at the age of 70 in 1986. In 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. Dag Spicer, senior curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, "described Dr. Huskey as a 'Zelig-like character, present at some of computing's greatest moments.'"[8]

Personal life

Harry Huskey (left) with his wife Velma at an outing to temples in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

Huskey married Velma Roeth (died 1991) in 1939 and had four children. In 1994, he married Nancy Grindstaff (died in 2016). He lived in Santa Cruz, California.

Huskey appeared with a junk dealer as the third pair of contestants in the 10 May 1950 episode of

electronic brain". They selected the "state category" and missed the final question when they failed to identify Iowa as the state north of Missouri.[9]

Selected works

Awards

In 2013, the Computer History Museum named him a Museum Fellow "for his seminal work on early and important computing systems and a lifetime of service to computer education."[10]

References

  1. ^ Harry D. Huskey 2013 Fellow
  2. ^ Harry D. Huskey. "Contributions to the problem of Geöcze". Duke Math. J. 10 (2) 249 - 257, June 1943. https://doi.org/10.1215/S0012-7094-43-01023-3
  3. ^ Roberts, Sam, Harry Huskey, 101, Dies; Scientist at forefront of computer revolution, The New York Times, April 21, 2017, p.B14
  4. ^ "G-15 and Harry Huskey at the SWAC". Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  5. ^ "IIT CS". Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  6. ^ http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001564/156454eb.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  7. ^ Launor Carter: Educational technology--computer-related and people-related, SDC Corporation, January 1, 1969
  8. ^ Roberts, Sam, Harry Huskey, 101, Dies; Scientist at forefront of computer revolution, The New York Times, April 21, 2017, p.B14
  9. ^ "You Bet Your Life | Old Time Radio". Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  10. ^ CHM. "Harry D. Huskey — CHM Fellow Award Winner". Retrieved 9 April 2017.Huskey/ "Archived copy". Archived from Huskey/ the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017. {{cite web}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help); Check |url= value (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

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