Bruce Wesley Arden ( – ) was an American
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
.
Arden enlisted in the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1944-1946) as a Radar Technician Third Class in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak (Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside wo ...
.
He graduated from
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
with a BS(EE) in 1949 and started his computing career in 1950 with the wiring and programming of
IBM's hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
(mechanical and electronic)
Card Programmed Computer/Calculator at the
Allison Division of
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
. Next he spent a short period as a programmer for computations being done at the
University of Michigan's Willow Run Laboratory
The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) was a research institute at Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 1972. The institute contributed to the development of remote sensing, radar, and holography. ERIM grew out of a military and envir ...
using the
Standards Eastern Automatic Computer.
He then became a research associate at the University of Michigan's Statistical Research Laboratory and later an associate director of the university's Computing Center after its establishment in 1959. While at Michigan he co-authored two compilers, GAT for the
IBM 650
The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962, and it was the first ...
and
MAD for the
IBM 704/709/7090, was involved in the design of the architecture and negotiations with IBM over the virtual memory features that would be included in what became the
IBM System/360 Model 67
The IBM System/360 Model 67 (S/360-67) was an important IBM mainframe model in the late 1960s.
* It had "its own powerful operating system... heTime Sharing System monitor (TSS)" offering "virtually instantaneous access to and response from t ...
computer,
and in the initial design of the
Michigan Terminal System
The Michigan Terminal System (MTS) is one of the first time-sharing computer operating systems.. Developed in 1967 at the University of Michigan for use on IBM S/360-67, S/370 and compatible mainframe computers, it was developed and used by a con ...
(MTS)
time-sharing
In computing, time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users at the same time by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking.DEC Timesharing (1965), by Peter Clark, The DEC Professional, Volume 1, Number 1
Its emergence a ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
.
[Computing at the University of Michigan: The Early Years through the 1960s]
Norman R. Scott.
U-M Vice President for Research Geoffrey Norman, writing in 1976, gave special credit to a triumvirate of Michigan computer specialists who contributed greatly to the future of computing at Michigan and in the nation as a whole. "Bartels, Arden, and
Westervelt," Norman has said, "were a team that we took great care should not be broken up or induced to leave the University. Westervelt, the hardware expert, Arden, brilliant in software and logic, and Bartels orchestrating their progress-these three put together a superb timesharing computer system. The university and their faculty colleagues owe them much."
Arden's increasing interest in academic computer science and engineering motivated him to complete a doctoral program in electrical engineering in 1965. He was subsequently a professor in, and ultimately chairman of, the Computer and Communication Sciences department at Michigan.
[ In 1973 he accepted a professorship at ]Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
and chaired the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 1986, then Princeton's Alexander Doty Professor of Engineering, he went to the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
as its dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. In the three years preceding the addition of "Emeritus" to his academic title (William May Professor of Engineering) in 1995, he also served as Rochester's vice provost for telecommunications and computing.
During his academic career, Arden wrote two books on numerical computation and edited another on computer science and engineering research. He wrote many papers in the areas of compilers, operating systems, computer logic and networks.ACM Author Portal for Bruce W. Arden
/ref> In addition, he supervised many students, both undergraduate and graduate, in their studies of the various aspects of computing, and he served as a consultant to government agencies and several major computer companies at various times during those years.
He retired in 1995 and lived in Michigan and Maine.
References
External links
Tom Rickey, University of Rochester, November 23, 1992.
Video (46 minutes), Bruce W. Arden Collection
(AFC/2001/001/97393), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
"Remembering Bruce Arden: U-M faculty member and past chair of Computer and Communication Sciences department"
''Division News'', 10 January 2022, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan.
"Bruce Arden, former dean of engineering, dies at 94"
''Newscenter'', 10 January 2022, University of Rochester.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Bruce W.
1927 births
2021 deaths
American computer scientists
University of Michigan faculty
University of Rochester faculty
Princeton University faculty
People from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Scientists from Minneapolis
Engineers from Minnesota
Purdue University alumni