Howard H. Aiken

Howard Hathaway Aiken
Howard Aiken
Born(1900-03-08)March 8, 1900
DiedMarch 14, 1973(1973-03-14) (aged 73)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
Harvard University (doctorate)
Known forAutomatic Sequence Controlled Calculators Harvard Mark I – IV
Spouses
  • Louise Mancill
    (m. 1939⁠–⁠1942)
  • Agnes Montgomery
    (m. 1943⁠–⁠1961)
  • Mary McFarland
    (m. 1963⁠–⁠1973)
AwardsHarry H. Goode Memorial Award (1964)
Edison Medal (1970)
Scientific career
FieldsApplied mathematics, computer science
InstitutionsHarvard University, University of Miami
Doctoral advisorEmory Leon Chaffee
Doctoral studentsGerrit Blaauw
Fred Brooks
Kenneth E. Iverson
Anthony Oettinger
Gerard Salton
Harvard Mark I / IBM ASCC, left side.

Howard Hathaway Aiken (March 8, 1900 – March 14, 1973) was an American physicist and a pioneer in computing. He was the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I, the United States' first programmable computer.[1][2]

  1. ^ "At Harvard, Howard Aiken's computing machine hums briefly back to life | Harvard Magazine". www.harvardmagazine.com. April 4, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  2. ^ "The original concept was certainly Aiken's. There is no doubt about that," stated Robert V. D. Campbell Oral history interview Archived August 12, 2002, at the Wayback Machine, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota.