Heinz Zemanek (actually ''Heinrich Josef Zemanek'') (1 January 1920 – 16 July 2014) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n computer pioneer who led the development, from 1954 to 1958, of one of the first complete transistorised computers on the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an continent. The computer was nicknamed Mailüfterl — Viennese for "May breeze" — in reference to

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 ...

, a computer developed at

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 ...

between 1945 and 1951.

Life

Heinz Zemanek went to a secondary school in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and earned his

Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, C ...

in 1937. He then started to study at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

. In 1940, Zemanek was drafted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

, where he served in a "communication unit" and also as a teacher in an Intelligence Service School. Returning to studying radar technology he earned his

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, ...

in 1944 with the help of

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wi ...

professor Richard Feldtkeller (1901–1981). After the war Zemanek worked as an assistant at the university and earned his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

in 1951 about timesharing methods in multiplex telegraphy. In 1952 he completed the URR1 (''Universal Relais Rechner 1'', i.e., ''Universal Relay Computer 1''). He died at the age of 94 on 16 July 2014.

The Vienna Lab

The

IBM Laboratory Vienna IBM Laboratory Vienna was an IBM research laboratory based in Vienna, Austria. The laboratory started with a group led by Heinz Zemanek that moved from the Technische Hochschule (now the Technical University of Vienna). Initially, the group worked ...

, also known as the Vienna Lab, was founded in 1961 as a department of the IBM Laboratory in

Böblingen Böblingen (; Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are contiguous. History Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Böblingen in 1253. Würt ...

, Germany, with Professor Zemanek as its first manager. Zemanek remained with the Vienna Lab until 1976, when 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 ...

. He was crucial in the creation of the formal definition of the

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

PL/I PL/I (Programming Language One, pronounced and sometimes written PL/1) is a procedural, imperative computer programming language developed and published by IBM. It is designed for scientific, engineering, business and system programming. I ...

. For several years, Zemanek had been a lecturer at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

, which features a lecture hall named in his honor. He was also a long-time member of the

International Federation for Information Processing The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a global organisation for researchers and professionals working in the field of computing to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing. Established in 196 ...

, of which he was president from 1971 to 1974.

Scouting

Professor Zemanek joined the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are t ...

in 1932 and served as Scout Leader, International Secretary of Austria from 1946 to 1949 and International Commissioner of the Pfadfinder Österreichs from 1949 to 1954.

Honours and awards

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

(2005) *Gold Decoration for Services to the City of Vienna *Joseph Johann Ritter von Prechtl Medal from the

Technical University of Vienna TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

*Leonardo da Vinci Medal of the European Society for the Education of Engineers *

Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921. The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialize ...

(1972). *Rudolf Kompfner Medal of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technical University of Vienna (2010) *Member of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laur ...

*Hero of

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

Eduard Rhein Ring of Honor The Eduard Rhein Foundation was founded in 1976 in Hamburg (Germany) by Eduard Rhein. The goal of the foundation is to promote scientific research, learning, arts, and culture. This is done in particular by granting awards for outstanding achievemen ...

(

Eduard Rhein Foundation The Eduard Rhein Foundation was founded in 1976 in Hamburg (Germany) by Eduard Rhein. The goal of the foundation is to promote scientific research, learning, arts, and culture. This is done in particular by granting awards for outstanding achievemen ...

, 1998) *Heinz-Zemanek-Preis, an award for extraordinary accomplishments in the field of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, was named for him *Kardinal-Innitzer-Preis (2003) – for his lifetime accomplishments

Literature

*''Bekanntes & Unbekanntes aus der Kalenderwissenschaft.'' Munich: Oldenbourg, 1978 *''Kalender und Chronologie.'' Munich: Oldenbourg, 1990 *''Weltmacht Computer.'' Esslingen: Bechtle, 1991 *''Das geistige Umfeld der Informationstechnik.'' Berlin: Springer, 1992 *''Unser Kalender.'' Vienna: Wiener Kath. Akad., 1995 *''Vom Mailüfterl zum Internet.'' Vienna: Picus-Verlag, 2001 *''Anekdoten zur Informatik.'' Innsbruck: Studien-Verlag, 2001

Notes

References

* * *

External links

*
Heinz Zemanek websiteHeinz Zemanek university home pageOral history interview with Heinz Zemanek

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

, University of Minnesota. Zemanek discusses his engineering education and work in radar technology during World War II. Zemanek then focuses on the development of computers in Austria: magnetic drums and magnetic memory, the Mailüfterl computer, LOGALGOL and other compilers, the University of Vienna, where Zemanek worked on his computer, the subsequent sponsorship of the project by International Business Machines Europe, and

ALGOL ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

and

language standards development.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemanek, Heinz 1920 births 2014 deaths Scientists from Vienna People associated with Scouting Scouting and Guiding in Austria University of Vienna alumni Austrian computer scientists Academics of TU Wien Programming language designers IBM Fellows Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Austrian military personnel of World War II