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Cuthbert Corwin Hurd

Born: April 5, 1911, Estherville, Iowa Died: May 22, 1996 (aged 85)

Overview

Cuthbert Hurd was the mathematician who pushed IBM into scientific computing. Hired in 1949 as director of what became IBM’s Applied Science Division, he championed the Defense Calculator project that became the IBM 701, co-organized the Georgetown machine translation demonstration of January 1954, personally sold ten IBM 701 computers, created the organizational home in which FORTRAN was developed, and served as the essential bridge between the mathematical world of Oak Ridge and von Neumann’s Princeton and the commercial computing ambitions of Watson Jr.’s IBM. He is one of the least-famous figures in this story and one of the most consequential.

Education

Year Degree / Institution Notes
1932 B.A. in Mathematics, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa  
1934 M.S. in Mathematics, Iowa State College (now Iowa State University)  
1936 Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  
Post-doc Columbia University and MIT Post-doctoral work

Drake University awarded Hurd an honorary LLD in 1967 in recognition of his computing contributions.

Career

Academia and Wartime Service (1936–1947)

After completing his doctorate, Hurd was assistant professor at Michigan State University from 1936 to 1942. During World War II he taught at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and co-authored a mathematics textbook for mariners.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1947–1949)

After the war Hurd worked at the Oak Ridge atomic energy facility (operated by Union Carbide for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) as a technical research head and mathematician. At Oak Ridge he supervised the installation of an IBM 602 calculating punch-card machine to automate tracking of fissile material within the facility. The experience of watching the IBM 602 handle computations that previously required many human computers convinced him that the potential for automated scientific calculation was far larger than IBM was exploiting. He identified the gap between what IBM’s electromechanical equipment could do and what scientific users actually needed.

IBM Applied Science Division (1949–1962)

Watson Jr. hired Hurd in 1949. Hurd built IBM’s Applied Science Division from scratch, creating the organizational infrastructure through which IBM could engage with scientific computing customers: universities, national laboratories, government agencies, and defense contractors.

His mandate was to find out what these customers needed and to get IBM to build it for them – against the resistance of IBM’s own Product Planning Department, which was oriented entirely toward business punch-card customers and which told Hurd throughout 1950 that “no computer could ever be marketed at a price of more than $1,000 per month.”

The Defense Calculator Survey (1950)

Hurd, together with James Birkenstock (head of IBM’s Future Demands department), conducted the survey of 22 defense and research installations in the second half of 1950 that produced the business case for the Defense Calculator. They visited the National Security Agency, Boeing, General Electric, Los Alamos, Lockheed, Douglas, Convair, RAND, United Aircraft, and others. Their conclusion: one general-purpose scientific computer could solve 90 percent of the needs of all of them. IBM should build it with its own money and keep the patents.

Watson Jr. authorized the project in January 1951 on the basis of this recommendation.

Selling the 701

Hurd accompanied Watson Jr. on the Defense Calculator sales tour in late 1951 and early 1952. He personally sold ten of the nineteen IBM 701 computers that were ultimately delivered. His ability to speak the language of nuclear physicists, aerodynamicists, and applied mathematicians – coming from Oak Ridge and his own mathematics background – was the decisive advantage over the IBM sales force, which was trained for business customers.

He hired John von Neumann as an IBM consultant, deepening the connection between Princeton’s IAS and Poughkeepsie.

The Georgetown MT Demonstration (January 7, 1954)

The Georgetown-IBM machine translation demonstration of January 7, 1954 was organized on the IBM side entirely by Hurd. He partnered with Georgetown’s Léon Dostert and linguist Paul Garvin, and with IBM mathematician Peter Sheridan, who wrote the 701 program. Hurd was present at the console at 590 Madison Avenue on the day of the demonstration, alongside Thomas Watson Sr. and Dostert.

The demonstration used a 250-word Russian vocabulary and six grammar rules to translate more than 60 sentences. It received front-page coverage in the New York Times the following day.

FORTRAN

Within IBM’s Applied Science Division, Hurd became the organizational manager of the team that built FORTRAN. John Backus was the technical lead; Hurd created the environment, provided the institutional cover, and managed up to Watson Jr.’s IBM. He later said he was the manager of the group “in which” FORTRAN was developed rather than its inventor, which is accurate and appropriately modest.

The Applied Science Division under Hurd was responsible for introducing the IBM 701, the IBM 650, the IBM 704, and FORTRAN. This is the list of what actually made IBM dominant in scientific computing in the 1950s.

Director, Electronic Data Processing Machines Division (1955)

On January 19, 1955, Hurd was promoted to director of the IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines Division, when T. Vincent Learson was promoted to Vice President of Sales.

After IBM (1962–)

Hurd left IBM in 1962. He served as chairman of the Computer Usage Company (CUC) until 1974 and continued as a consultant to IBM through 1985, advising on System/360 and System/370 product decisions. From 1974, he operated Cuthbert C. Hurd Associates, consulting for companies including American Express and Rockwell.

Awards and Honors

  • Honorary LLD, Drake University (1967)
  • IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (1986) – awarded by the IEEE Computer Society for his contributions to early computing

Connections to Others

  • Thomas Watson Jr. – Watson Jr. hired Hurd in 1949 and backed him against IBM’s internal sceptics throughout the Defense Calculator project; Hurd was Watson Jr.’s key technical lieutenant for the 701 era
  • James Birkenstock – co-conducted the 22-installation survey of 1950 that produced the Defense Calculator business case
  • Nathaniel Rochester / Jerrier Haddad – Rochester and Haddad designed the 701 that Hurd championed; Hurd sold it
  • John von Neumann – Hurd hired von Neumann as an IBM consultant; the IAS machine’s architecture directly influenced the 701 design
  • John Backus – Backus reported to Hurd within the Applied Science Division; Hurd was the organizational manager of the FORTRAN project
  • Léon Dostert – Dostert was Hurd’s partner in organizing the Georgetown-IBM MT demonstration of January 7, 1954
  • Peter Sheridan – IBM mathematician who wrote the 701 MT program under Hurd’s direction

Sources