Jay Wright Forrester, American computer engineer and systems scientist (d. 2016)
Jay Wright Forrester (July 14, 1918 – November 16, 2016) was a pioneering American computer engineer and systems scientist. He is credited with being one of the inventors of magnetic core memory, the predominant form of random-access computer memory during the most explosive years of digital computer development (between 1955 and 1975). It was part of a family of related technologies which bridged the gap between vacuum tubes and semiconductors by exploiting the magnetic properties of materials to perform switching and amplification.
He is also believed to have created the first animation in the history of computer graphics, a "jumping ball" on an oscilloscope.
Later, he was a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he introduced the Forrester effect describing fluctuations in supply chains, and is credited as the founder of system dynamics, which deals with the simulation of interactions between objects in dynamic systems and is most often applied to research and consulting in organizations and other social systems.
1918Jul, 14
Jay Wright Forrester
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Events on 1918
- 3Mar
World War I
Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. - 2May
Chevrolet Motor Company
General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. - 24Jun
Montreal
First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto. - 4Jul
Nicholas II of Russia
Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). - 9Nov
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.