American Computer Designer
1925–1996

Seymour Cray, widely regarded as the father of supercomputers, was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, on September 28, 1925. He died on October 5, 1996, after a car accident. A man of unerring focus, Cray maintained a single goal throughout his lifetime—to build the fastest computer possible.

After obtaining a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Minnesota, Cray started his career with Engineering Research Associates, which became Remington Rand, then Sperry Rand. Here Cray designed his first computer, the ERA 1101. He also helped design the UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) 1103. When the UNIVAC shifted its focus away from supercomputers, Cray did not. Instead, he left to start Control Data Corporation (CDC), leading the first design team to abandon vacuum tubes and produce the first commercial transistor-based computer, the CDC 1604, in 1958.

Within a few years...