Frederick P. Brooks Jr., computer design innovator, dies at 91
He was one of the main designers of the computers that cemented IBM's dominance for decades. Later, he wrote a book on software engineering that became an offbeat classic.
Frederick P. Brooks Jr., whose innovative work in computer design and software genius helped shape the field of computer science, died Thursday at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 91.
His death was confirmed by his son, Roger, who said Dr. Brooks had been in declining health since suffering a stroke two years ago.
Dr. Brooks had an extensive career that included founding the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina and leading influential research in computer graphics and virtual reality.
But he is best known for being one of the technical leaders of IBM's 360 computing project in the 1960s. At a time when smaller rivals like Burroughs, Univac and NCR were making inroads, c t was an extremely ambitious undertaking. Fortune magazine, in an article titled "IBM's $5,000,000,000 Bet", described it as a "bet on business" company.
Until 360, each computer model had its own bespoke hardware design. This required engineers to revise their software programs to run on each new machine introduced.
But IBM promised to eliminate this costly and repetitive work with a approach championed by Dr. Brooks, a young star in the company's engineering, and a few colleagues. In April 1964, IBM announced the 360 as a family of six compatible computers. Programs written for one 360 model could run on the others, without the need to rewrite the software, as customers moved from smaller computers to larger computers.
< figure class="img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group">ImageDr. Brooks at the official introduction of the IBM System/360, a family of six compatible computers, in 1964. He had been a champion for allowing programs written for one model 360 to run on others, a novel idea at the time.Credit. ..IBM ArchivesThe shared design across multiple machines was described in an article by Dr. Brooks and colleagues Gene Amdahl and Gerrit Blaauw titled IBM System/360 ."
"It was a breakthrough in computer architecture led by Fred Brooks," said Richard Sites, a computer designer who studied under Dr. Brooks, in an interview.
But there was a problem. The software needed to fulfill IBM's promise of compatibility between machines and the ability to run multiple programs at once wasn't ready, as it turned out to be a much tougher challenge than expected.Operating system software is often described as the command and control system of a computer. OS/360 was a precursor to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS, and Google's Android.
When IBM announced the 360, Dr. Brooks was only 33 years old and headed for academia. He had agreed to return to North Carolina, where he grew up, and set up a computer science department in Chapel Hill. But Thomas Watson Jr., the president of IBM, asked him to stay on for another year to tackle the company's software problems.
Dr. Brooks agreed, and eventually the OS/360 issues were sorted out. Project 360 proved to be a huge success, cementing the company's dominance in the computing market in the 1980s.
"Fred Brooks was a brilliant scientist that changed computing," Arvind Krishna, chief executive of IBM and a computer scientist himself, said in a statement. "We are indebted to him for his pioneering contributions to the industry."
He was one of the main designers of the computers that cemented IBM's dominance for decades. Later, he wrote a book on software engineering that became an offbeat classic.
Frederick P. Brooks Jr., whose innovative work in computer design and software genius helped shape the field of computer science, died Thursday at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 91.
His death was confirmed by his son, Roger, who said Dr. Brooks had been in declining health since suffering a stroke two years ago.
Dr. Brooks had an extensive career that included founding the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina and leading influential research in computer graphics and virtual reality.
But he is best known for being one of the technical leaders of IBM's 360 computing project in the 1960s. At a time when smaller rivals like Burroughs, Univac and NCR were making inroads, c t was an extremely ambitious undertaking. Fortune magazine, in an article titled "IBM's $5,000,000,000 Bet", described it as a "bet on business" company.
Until 360, each computer model had its own bespoke hardware design. This required engineers to revise their software programs to run on each new machine introduced.
But IBM promised to eliminate this costly and repetitive work with a approach championed by Dr. Brooks, a young star in the company's engineering, and a few colleagues. In April 1964, IBM announced the 360 as a family of six compatible computers. Programs written for one 360 model could run on the others, without the need to rewrite the software, as customers moved from smaller computers to larger computers.
< figure class="img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group">ImageDr. Brooks at the official introduction of the IBM System/360, a family of six compatible computers, in 1964. He had been a champion for allowing programs written for one model 360 to run on others, a novel idea at the time.Credit. ..IBM ArchivesThe shared design across multiple machines was described in an article by Dr. Brooks and colleagues Gene Amdahl and Gerrit Blaauw titled IBM System/360 ."
"It was a breakthrough in computer architecture led by Fred Brooks," said Richard Sites, a computer designer who studied under Dr. Brooks, in an interview.
But there was a problem. The software needed to fulfill IBM's promise of compatibility between machines and the ability to run multiple programs at once wasn't ready, as it turned out to be a much tougher challenge than expected.Operating system software is often described as the command and control system of a computer. OS/360 was a precursor to Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS, and Google's Android.
When IBM announced the 360, Dr. Brooks was only 33 years old and headed for academia. He had agreed to return to North Carolina, where he grew up, and set up a computer science department in Chapel Hill. But Thomas Watson Jr., the president of IBM, asked him to stay on for another year to tackle the company's software problems.
Dr. Brooks agreed, and eventually the OS/360 issues were sorted out. Project 360 proved to be a huge success, cementing the company's dominance in the computing market in the 1980s.
"Fred Brooks was a brilliant scientist that changed computing," Arvind Krishna, chief executive of IBM and a computer scientist himself, said in a statement. "We are indebted to him for his pioneering contributions to the industry."
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