David's CHS 202 Blog - Clemson University

I was flipping through a recent copy of the New York Times and noticed these headlines: "Bob Evans, 77, Helped I.B.M. Transforms Data Processing." A quick scan of the article revealed that Evans was an important computer engineer who had just recently died. I figured that since I had just completed a book on the history of computers that I could probably recognize this guy's contributions, if not the actual person. Turns out, he was a computer scientist who led the development of the 360 class of I.B.M. mainframes that helped the company become a leader in data-processing machines. It was Evans who convinced the chairman of I.B.M. (Thomas Watson) to make the critical decision of refocusing all of I.B.M.'s resources towards the development of this class of mainframes. Despite the fact that I.B.M. was already successful by the day's standards in computing, Watson chose to follow the advice of his engineer, and the rest became history. As we read the book by Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, we learned that the early (and even present) age of computer entrepreneurship consisted largely of being in the right place at the right time and possessing a little luck as well. Evans provided this spark at I.B.M., and his contribution cannot be overlooked this year as we mark the 4oth anniversary of the 360 class of mainframes which he developed.

I would post a link to this article on the web, but it cannot be seen unless you are a registered member of nytimes.com. Should you wish to view it anyway, you can register at NY Times and search for the title of the article as it appears above on Sept. 8, 2004.