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Computer Engineer Wes Clark Dies at 88

Posted by timothy on from the let-us-now-praise-famous-men dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Wesley Allison Clark, a revered computer engineer whose work from the 1950s through 1970s underpinned the revolutions in personal computing, computer graphics, and the internet, died Monday. He was 88. Among other things, Clark was one of the two people (Charles Molnar being the other) who created LINC, the first mini-computer.

3 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. Internet by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One thing that people don't know about Wes is that during his service at Washington University he was one of the many who took the initiative to create the Internet. So you can thank him for that.

  2. If nothing else ... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Informative

    in a 1981 lecture, he mentioned that he had the distinction of being, "the only person to have been fired three times from MIT for insubordination."

    If for no other reason than this, this man deserves to be remembered. :-P

    one of the fathers of the personal computer... he was the architect of both the TX-0 and TX-2 at Lincoln Labs. He believed that "a computer should be just another piece of lab equipment." At a time when most computers were huge remote machines operated in batch mode, he advocated far more interactive access.

    I guess being one of the fathers of the personal computer is pretty cool too.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. Re:I was almost ready to cheer by Progman3K · · Score: 3, Funny

    I first read that as Wesley Clark

    I first read that as Dick Clark and I thought "What, again?!?"

    --
    I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J