October 9, 2024

Too Late

Julian Bigelow, who was chief engineer on the IAS computer (the architectural forerunner of today’s machines) died about three weeks ago at the age of 89. Today I learned where he had lived.

For the last seven years I sat at the breakfast table each morning and looked out at the red house behind mine. I never knew – until it was too late – that the man who lived there was one of the pioneers of my field.