Gene Amdahl.

American Computer Designer and Entrepreneur
1922–

Gene Myron Amdahl was born November 16, 1922, in Flandreau, South Dakota. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from South Dakota State University in 1948 and a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1952. His major contributions to the field of computer science are in the design of computers and the founding of computer-related companies.

Prior to attending college, Amdahl served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, learning electronics and taking a computer programming course. This served him well academically and in his later entrepreneurial efforts. Amdahl's doctoral dissertation was on "The Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer." The computer itself was called the Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer (WISC). Amdahl's design was implemented by successive classes of students at the University of Wisconsin.

Amdahl worked at IBM from...