Wesley A. Clark

This article is about the computer scientist. For the American general, see Wesley Clark.
Wesley A. Clark
Wes Clark in 2009
Born
Wesley Allison Clark

(1927-04-10)April 10, 1927
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedFebruary 22, 2016(2016-02-22) (aged 88)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Alma materUC Berkeley
Known forTX-0, TX-2, LINC
AwardsEckert–Mauchly Award
Computer Pioneer Award
National Academy of Engineering member
Scientific career
FieldsComputer engineering
Internet
InstitutionsMIT Lincoln Laboratory
Washington University
Clark, Rockoff and Associates

Wesley Allison Clark (April 10, 1927 – February 22, 2016) was an American physicist who is credited for designing the first modern personal computer.[1] He was also a computer designer and the main participant, along with Charles Molnar, in the creation of the LINC computer, which was the first minicomputer and shares with a number of other computers (such as the PDP-1) the claim to be the inspiration for the personal computer.

Clark was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Kinderhook, New York, and in northern California. His parents, Wesley Sr. and Eleanor Kittell, moved to California, and he attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with a degree in physics in 1947.[1] Clark began his career as a physicist at the Hanford Site. In 1981, Clark received the Eckert–Mauchly Award for his work on computer architecture. He was awarded an honorary degree by Washington University in St. Louis in 1984.[2] He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999. Clark is a charter recipient of the IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award for "First Personal Computer".[3]

  1. ^ a b Markoff, John (February 27, 2016). "Wesley A. Clark, Made Computing Personal, Dies at 88". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  2. ^ "Honorary Degrees granted at Washington University in St. Louis, 1859 – present". Library.wustl.edu. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  3. ^ "Computer Pioneer Charter Recipients". Computer.org. Archived from the original on 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2016-02-24.