Roger Lee Sisson (June 24, 1926 – January 22, 1992) was an early
data processing pioneer. Sisson worked on
Project Whirlwind
Whirlwind I was a Cold War-era vacuum tube computer developed by the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory for the U.S. Navy. Operational in 1951, it was among the first digital electronic computers that operated in real-time for output, and the firs ...
while a graduate student 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 ...
, co-founded the first consulting firm devoted to electronic data processing,
and published a number of the earliest books and periodicals on computers and data processing.
Sisson earned his
M.S.
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
in electrical engineering from MIT in January 1950. He worked in
Jay Forrester’s lab on Project Whirlwind. His thesis, written with Alfred Susskind, was on the digital to analog conversion for the cathode ray tube display.
Sisson, with Richard Canning, started one of the first consulting firms devoted exclusively to electronic data processing, Canning, Sisson, and Associates. Canning and Sisson also published one of the earliest computer periodicals, ''Data Processing Digest'', starting in 1955. Sisson went on to write a number of noted books on the subject of EDP, including ''The Management of Data Processing'', and ''A Manager’s Guide to Data Processing''. He wrote an early and influential paper in the field of
Operations Research
Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...
, "Methods of Sequencing in Job Shops" in the journal ''Operations Research'' in 1959.
Sisson died January 22, 1992, in New York City, of sudden cardiac arrest.
He was 65 at the time of his death.
References
External links
Book references for Roger SissonGrabbe Automation in Business and Industry Bitsavers references for Roger SissonProceedings of a Second Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery Bitsavers references for Roger Sisson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisson, Roger Lee
MIT School of Engineering alumni
American computer scientists
1926 births
1992 deaths