Robert Rivers Everett (June 26, 1921 – August 15, 2018) 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 ...

. He was an honorary board member of the MITRE Corporation. He was born 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 enu ...

. In 1945 he worked with Jay Forrester on the

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow (current) gradients. Whirlwinds occur all over the world and i ...

project, one of the first real time electronic computers. In 1958 he was a founding member of the MITRE Corporation, and was its president from 1969 to 1986. In 1983 he received the Medal for Distinguished Public Service from the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

and in 1989 he received the

National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

. In 2009, he was named the winner of the 2008 Eugene G. Fubini Award for outstanding contributions to the Department of Defense (DoD).MITRE Press Release, 28 January 2009
/ref> In 2009, he was also made a Fellow of the

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on ...

"for his work on the MIT Whirlwind and SAGE computer systems and a lifetime of directing advanced research and development projects."

References

1921 births 2018 deaths People from Yonkers, New York Scientists from New York (state) American electrical engineers Duke University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Mitre Corporation people National Medal of Technology recipients {{compu-scientist-stub Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni