Paying Tribute to Computer Science Pioneer Frederick Brooks, Jr.

Frederick P. Brooks Jr., a prolific pc scientist and longtime professor of computer science, died on 17 November at the age of 91.

While doing the job as a venture supervisor at IBM in the 1960s, the IEEE Lifestyle Fellow led the development of the System/360 pc relatives. It was the first vertically appropriate household of mainframe desktops. Brooks also made IBM’s OS/360, the world’s largest computer software project at the time. He is credited with coining the expression computer architecture, which is used to describe how components and computer software are arranged to make up a pc system and the functions which information its functionality. He wrote The Legendary Gentleman-Thirty day period, a reserve of essays published in 1975 that detailed classes he learned from worries he faced though acquiring the OS/360.

Brooks still left IBM in 1964 to located the University of North Carolina’s computer science office in Chapel Hill.

Whilst he retired from instructing in 2013, Brooks was nonetheless active in the university’s research application in digital environmentsand scientific visualization right until 2020.

Breakthroughs at IBM

Following earning a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1953 from Duke University, in Durham, N.C., Brooks gained a Ph.D. in utilized arithmetic in 1956 from Harvard. He concluded his dissertation—the growth of a laptop or computer that could do payrolls—under the supervision of computer system pioneer Howard Aiken, who experienced built IBM’s Harvard Mark I personal computer.

Brooks joined IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1957. His 1st assignment was performing on the IBM 7030. Recognized as Stretch, it was the initially transistorized supercomputer. Though commercially unsuccessful, Extend inspired systems made use of in innovations these as instruction pipelining and memory interleaving. Brooks also built Harvest, IBM’s 7030 character-processing auxiliary processor.

His up coming job was the IBM 8000 series of pcs. In 1961 IBM deemed the job a failure and terminated it.

That exact yr, Brooks was tasked with leading the enhancement of a family members of typical-function programs for both equally business and scientific programs. Just before the launch of IBM Program/360, pc techniques have been incompatible with each and every other, even if they have been produced by the exact company. Application and peripherals from old programs would not operate with new ones, producing it high-priced for buyers to upgrade their hardware, in accordance to an IBM post about the engineering.

The Program/360, unveiled in 1964, contained 6 processor designs with 40 peripherals. The line was named the 360 because it dealt with the demands of all kinds of shoppers. In just 5 a long time of its release, far more than 3,000 models were being offered, and it generated more than US $100 billion in profits by the mid-1980s, in accordance to the IBM write-up.

The system also popularized the notion of a computer upgrade and released the industry normal of the 8-bit byte, for which Brooks was responsible. The 8-little bit byte enabled a laptop or computer to operate program that developed equally higher- and lower-scenario figures.

Because of to the achievements of the process, Brooks was appointed lead developer of the 360 spouse and children of functioning programs. The OS/360 was the forerunner of Microsoft’s Home windows, Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android software program programs.

When Brooks joined the University of North Carolina, he was its first professor of computer system science. He served as section chair for 20 yrs, and he taught and done study at the university for far more than 50 many years. His exploration concentrated predominantly on interactive computer graphics and virtual reality.

“Many in the office and over and above appreciated the reality that in a environment whole of tutorial competition and investigation silos, Brooks fostered a departmental society of open collaboration and regard,” states Mary C. Whitton, a retired University of North Carolina research professor. The IEEE daily life senior member labored intently with Brooks for far more than two a long time.

The Turing Award and the Countrywide Medal of Technology

Brooks was honored various situations for his pioneering operate. He was awarded the 1993 IEEE John von Neumann Medal and obtained two awards from the IEEE Laptop Society: the 1980 Girls of ENIAC Laptop or computer Pioneer Award and the 1970 W. Wallace McDowell Award.

He acquired the 1999 A.M. Turing Award from the Affiliation for Computing Equipment, recognized as the Nobel Prize of computing. He was honored for “landmark contributions to computer architecture, functioning programs, and software engineering.”

Brooks also received the 1985 U.S. National Medal of Know-how alongside his IBM colleagues Bob Evans and Erich Bloch for the progress of Process/360. The award was specified to them by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.