Charles Edwin Molnar (1935–1996) was a co-developer of one of the first

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...

s, the

LINC The LINC (Laboratory INstrument Computer) is a 12-bit, 2048-word transistorized computer. The LINC is considered by some the first minicomputer and a forerunner to the personal computer. Originally named the "Linc", suggesting the project's o ...

(Laboratory Instrument Computer), while a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1962. His collaborator was

Wesley A. Clark Wesley Allison Clark (April 10, 1927 – February 22, 2016) was an American physicist who is credited for designing the first modern personal computer. He was also a computer designer and the main participant, along with Charles Molnar, in the ...

. The LINC originated decades before the advent of the personal computer. Its development was the result of a

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH) program that placed 20 copies of an early LINC prototype in selected biomedical research laboratories nationwide. Later, the LINC was produced in greater numbers by

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...

and other computer manufacturers. Later he was on the faculty of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. Charlie Molnar was also well known as a pioneer in the modeling of the

auditory system The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both the sensory organs (the ears) and the auditory parts of the sensory system. System overview The outer ear funnels sound vibrations to the eardrum, increasin ...

, especially numerical models of the function of the

cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory org ...

(the inner ear). When he died in 1996, he was working at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...

asynchronous circuit Asynchronous circuit (clockless or self-timed circuit) is a sequential digital logic circuit that does not use a global clock circuit or signal generator to synchronize its components. Instead, the components are driven by a handshaking circuit ...

s with

Ivan Sutherland Ivan Edward Sutherland (born May 16, 1938) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer, widely regarded as a pioneer of computer graphics. His early work in computer graphics as well as his teaching with David C. Evans in that subje ...

. Molnar received a bachelor's degree (1956) and a master's degree (1957) in electrical engineering from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, where he was a member of the

Cap and Skull Cap and Skull is a senior-year coeducational honor society at Rutgers University, founded on January 18, 1900. Admission to Cap and Skull is dependent on excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, and public service. The organization considers ...

Society,Cap and Skull Honor Society of Rutgers College
/ref> and received a doctoral degree (1966) from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in electrical engineering.

Important publications

Molnar's significant publications included the following: * Clark, W.A. and C.E. Molnar, 1964, "The LINC," ''Anal. New York Academy of Sciences'', Vol 115, pp. 653–658. * Clark, W.A. and C.E. Molnar, 1965, "A Description of the LINC," ''Computers in Biomedical Research'', Vol II, B.D. Waxman and R. Stacey, eds, Academic Press, New York, NY. * ''Model for the Convergence of Inputs Upon Neurons in the Cochlear Nucleus'', D.Sc. Thesis, MIT, 1966. * Chaney, T.J. and C.E. Molnar, "Anomalous Behavior of Synchronizer and Arbiter Circuits," ''IEEE Trans. on Computers'', Vol. C-22, No. 4, pp. 421–422, Apr. 1973. * Kim, D.O., C.E. Molnar, and R. R. Pfeiffer, 1973, "A system of nonlinear differential equations modeling basilar-membrane motion," ''J. Acoust. Soc. Am.'' 54(6):1517–29 Dec. 1973. * Clark, W.A. and C.E. Molnar, 1974, "Macromodular Computer Systems," ''Computers in Biomedical Research'', pp. 45–85, Vol IV, B.D. Waxman and R. Stacey, eds, Academic Press, New York, NY. * Kim, D.O. and C.E. Molnar: Cochlear mechanics: Measurements and models, in ''The Nervous System, Vol. 3, Human Communication and Its Disorders'', edited by DB Tower (Raven, New York) 1975; pp 57–68 * Sproull, R.F., I.E. Sutherland, and C.E. Molnar, 1994, "The Counterflow Pipeline Architecture," IEEE Design and Test of Computers, Vol. 11, no.3, pp. 44–59.

References

External links

*
Obituary at Auditory list

Photo with LINC at Computer History Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnar, Charles American computer scientists MIT School of Engineering alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty 1935 births 1996 deaths Rutgers University alumni