James Herbert Pomerene (June 22, 1920 – December 7, 2008) was an electrical engineer and computer pioneer.
Biography
Pomerene was born June 22, 1920 in
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...
. His father was Joel Pomerene and mother was Elsie Bower.
He received the BS degree in
electrical engineering from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in 1942. In 1945 he married Edythe Schwenn and had three children.
In 1946, he joined the Electronic Computer Project at the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
(IAS) in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
under the leadership of
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
. The project built a parallel stored program computer called the
IAS machine
The IAS machine was the first electronic computer built at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey. It is sometimes called the von Neumann machine, since the paper describing its design was edited by John von Neumann, a ...
that was the prototype for a number of machines such as the
MANIAC I
__NOTOC__
The MANIAC I (''Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer Model I'') was an early computer built under the direction of Nicholas Metropolis at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was based on the von Neuma ...
,
ORACLE, and
ILLIAC
ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer) was a series of supercomputers built at a variety of locations, some at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In all, five computers were built in this series between 1951 and 1974. Some more modern ...
series. Pomerene designed and implemented the adder portion of the arithmetic unit.
[Gilchrist, Bruce]
"Remembering Some Early Computers, 1948-1960"
''Columbia University EPIC'', 2006, pp.7-9.
Collaborating with engineers such as
Bruce Gilchrist and Y.K. Wong, they invented a fast adder which incorporated a speed up technique for asynchronous adders reducing the time for additive carry-overs to propagate. This design was actually later incorporated in one commercial computer, the
Philco TRANSAC S-2000
Philco was one of the pioneers of transistorized computers. After the company developed the surface barrier transistor, which was much faster than previous point-contact types, it was awarded contracts for military and government computers. Comm ...
, introduced in 1957, the first commercial transistorized computer.
Pomerene became chief engineer on the IAS computer project from 1951 to 1956.
In Summer 1956, Pomerene joined the
IBM Corporation in
Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...
, where he and several others started the development of various electronic computer systems such as the
IBM 7030
The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was IBM's first transistorized supercomputer. It was the fastest computer in the world from 1961 until the first CDC 6600 became operational in 1964."Designed by Seymour Cray, the CDC 6600 was almost three ...
and
Harvest computers. He was appointed an
IBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM's CEO. Typically only four to nine (eleven in 2014) IBM Fellows are appointed each year, in May or June. Fellow is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achiev ...
in 1976. He held 37 patents when he retired from IBM in 1993.
Pomerene was a Life Fellow of the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...
and a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
. He received the
IEEE Edison Medal
The IEEE Edison Medal is presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts." It is the oldest medal in this fi ...
in 1993, and the
Eckert-Mauchly Award in 2006.
He died December 7, 2008 in
Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro ...
.
Selected papers
* Gilchrist, B.; Pomerene, J.; Wong, S.Y.
"Fast carry logic for digital computers"''IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers'', EC-4 (Dec.1955), pp. 133–136.
* Esterin, B.; Gilchrist, B.; Pomerene, J. H.
"A Note on High Speed Digital Multiplication"''IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers'', vol. EC-5, p. 140 (1956).
References
Further reading
* Gilchrist, Bruce
"In Memoriam, James Pomerene (1920 - 2008)" ''New Castle Now'', February 6, 2009.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomerene, James Herbert
1920 births
2008 deaths
American electrical engineers
American computer scientists
Fellow Members of the IEEE
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
IEEE Edison Medal recipients
IBM employees
IBM Fellows
People from Yonkers, New York
Scientists from New York (state)
Northwestern University alumni