Seymour Cray and the Cray-1 Computer (photo from University of Minnesota)
“Anyone can build a fast CPU. The trick is to build a fast system.”
– Seymour Cray
Seymour Cray was born in 1925 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. After graduating high school, he was drafted into World War II as a radio operator where he worked on breaking Japanese codes. On his return, he entered the University of Minnesota where he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an Masters of Science in Applied Mathematics.
In 1957, Cray joined Control Data Corporation (CDC) where he designed the CDC 1604, the first fully transistorized (no vacuum tubes) commercial computer. Next, he designed the CDC 6600, which is considered to be the first actual supercomputer. It was the first computer to be cooled with Freon, the same fluid used in air-conditioners.
Cray left CDC in 1972 to found Cray Research in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. It was here that the Cray 1 vector supercomputer was launched. The Cray 1 permitted researchers to simulate nuclear weapons explosions and crack enemy codes. The supercomputers were also used for weather prediction and oil exploration. Cray left Cray Research in 1989 to form the Cray Computer Corporation, which ended in bankruptcy in 1995. Following CCC’s demise, Mr. Cray formed a new company, SRC Computers, where he was planning to begin the design of the Cray 5 supercomputer.
In 1996, Cray died at the age of 71 due to injuries suffered by a car accident. In his obituary, Danny Hillis, a supercomputer designer to whom Seymour Cray was a role model, was quoted as saying ”You rarely see someone who knows their calling so precisely. He knew every transistor and every wire in his computers.”
