Josef Kates, born ''Josef Katz'', (May 5, 1921 – June 16, 2018) was a Canadian engineer whose achievements include designing the first digital game-playing machine, and the world's first automated traffic signalling system.Engelmann, Frederick C. (1996) ''A History of the Austrian Migration to Canada'', Carleton University Press, , p. 184

Early life and education

Born the fifth of six children in an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-Jewish family, Josef Kates was the son of Baruch (Bernard) and Anna Katz (née Entenberg).Lumley, Elizabeth (2004) ''Canadian Who's Who 2004: v. 39'', University of Toronto Press, , p. 669 His parents ran a grocery store and an import-export business in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Kates fled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to escape the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

in 1938 and then, in 1939, joined the rest of his family which had fled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Kates enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

but, before he could see service, he and other Germans and Austrians resident in Britain were interned as enemy aliens."Computer pioneer named to Order of Canada"
Sep 30, 2011 by Lisa Queen, ''North York Mirror ''. Kates was deported to Canada where he remained interned for almost two years until he and most of his fellow Jewish internees were recognised by the government as "victims of Nazi aggression" and released."Josef Kates, 97, was a visionary scientist who believed computers ‘could do everything’"
Susan Ferrier MacKay, ''The Globe and Mail'', July 6, 2018. At the camps in New Brunswick and Quebec, Kates fished, worked as a lumberjack, knitted socks and studied for his high school diploma through

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

's high school matriculation program, placing first in Quebec's province-wide exams. After his release in 1942, he moved to Toronto where he met Lillian Kroch, marrying her in 1944. They had four children: Louis, Naomi, Celina and Philip A.Holmes, Gillian (ed.) (2001) ''Who's Who in Canadian Business 2001'', University of Toronto Press, , p. 421-2 He was educated at Goethe-Realschule (

: 1931-1938);

(

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

: 1941, junior and senior matriculation);

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

(

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

: 1944-1948, Honours in

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

; 1948-1949: M.A. in Applied Math; 1949-1951: Ph.D. in Physics).

Career

Kates started his career working for the Imperial Optical Company of

in 1942, and was in charge of precision optics for

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

equipment until he left in 1944. He then spent time working for Rogers Vacuum Tube Company, (now Royal Philips Electronics), for the next four years in the development and manufacturing of radar and radio tubes. He then began work in 1948 at the University of Toronto Computation Centre, where he participated in the design and building of UTEC, the first pilot model of a computer built in Canada. Kates also built the first digital game playing machine, the 13-foot tall Bertie the Brain, which was exhibited at the 1950 Canadian National Exhibition. The game was a version of Tic-tac-toe, with adjustable difficulty levels. The game machine controlled the lighting of an overhead display to show the progress of the game, and was built using a special electron tube, the

Additron Tube The Additron was an electron tube designed by Dr. Josef Kates, circa 1950, to replace the several individual electron tubes and support components required to perform the function of a single bit digital full adder. Dr. Kates developed the Additro ...

, which Kates had invented.Simmons, Marlene (1975)
Bertie the Brain Programmer Heads Science Council
, ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', October 8, 1975, retrieved 2010-10-31 The Additron Tube did the work of ten existing radio tubes, reducing the size and complexity of the machine. With the advent of

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

s, which were much smaller and required less power, the tube was not put into commercial use. Kates also designed Toronto's automated traffic signalling system in 1954 - the first in the world.McLean, James W. (1966)
The Phony Ogre of Automation
, ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', February 26, 1966, retrieved 2010-10-31"Josef Kates Found Ways to Unsnarl Traffic and Solve Business Problems With Computers"
James R. Hagerty, ''Wall Street Journal'', July 27, 2018 Kates founded and became the President of KCS Ltd in Toronto between 1954 and 1966, which merged with the consulting arm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. to become Kates, Peat, Marwick & Co. in Canada, with other corporations in the US and the UK, for which he acted as a co-managing partner. He served as a computer consultant to many Canadian and American firms and organizations. He was involved in the creation of ''Setak Computer Services Corp. Ltd.'' (his last name spelled backwards) which was based in Toronto; it offered computer access and consulting based on Burroughs computers, e.g. the B5500. Setak's employee Barry W. Ramer later went on to found Barry W. Ramer & Partners Ltd. and Ramer Data Consulting Ltd. Management Consulting in Calgary Alberta. In 1974 he founded Josef Kates Associates Inc., for which he acted as president. In 1968, he was appointed to the Science Council of Canada, and served as its chairman from 1975 to 1978.Ottawa Needs to be Positive for Industry to Compete: Kates
, ''

'', June 9, 1978, retrieved 2010-10-31Cohen, Bob (1978)
Economic Summit a very vital meeting
, '' Windsor Star'', February 11, 1978, retrieved 2010-10-31 Kates was also chairman, CEO and director of Teleride Sage Ltd. (1977–1996), and IRD Teleride (1996–1997) followed until his retirement. In 2014, at the age of 93, Kates designed a proposed improvement for Toronto Transit Commission subway system. His wife, Lillian Kroch, died of cancer in 1993 after almost 50 years of marriage. In 1995, Kates married his second wife, Kay Hill. Kates died in Toronto on June 16, 2018.

Honours

* Canadian Good Roads Association (now Transportation Association of Canada (1957: best paper) *

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

(Waterloo: 1979-85, Chancellor;Benefits of Computers Cited
, '' Leader-Post'', January 18, 1982, retrieved 2010-10-31 1993: Chancellor Emeritus) * LL.D. (

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

: 1981) * Medal from the Engineering Institute of Canada (1970) * Julian Smith Medal (1977) * Engineering Institute of Canada (1990: Fellow) * Canadian Association of Management Consultants (1994: Fellow) * Doctor of Mathematics (DMath) (University of Waterloo) (2005) * Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(2011) * Intelligent Transportation systems association of Canada Lifetime achievement Award, 2013

Organizations

* Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto) (member of the Board of Governors) * Technion University,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

(member of the Canadian Board) * Donalda Club (Toronto) * Canadian Board of the Weizmann Institute (Israel)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kates, Josef 1921 births 2018 deaths Austrian emigrants to Canada Burroughs Corporation people Businesspeople from Ontario Canadian computer scientists Canadian engineers Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United Kingdom Chancellors of the University of Waterloo Fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada McGill University alumni Members of the Order of Canada University of Toronto alumni

Early life and education

Career

Honours

Organizations

Further reading

See also

References