The First Software Patent and Other First Systems

About the Book

I joined Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1965. My friend from Control Data, Dan Kelly, helped me get the job. In fact he insisted that I talk to the Director of Applied Mathematics. Dr. Y. Shimamoto had ordered a 6600 a while ago and it was being installed now. Dr. Shimamoto was also on the NASA evaluation team for the 1964 NASA RFP which awarded me the first prize for technical excellence for my solutions and timing analysis. Dan wanted the best people at Brookhaven at that time, since the success or failure for the installation spelled serious money for him. A 6600 with all the peripheral gear at that time sold for about $10,000,000 dollars and his commission was 6%. So, you can understand how important that installation was for him. Control Data paid the commission in 3 installments: First installment of 30% was paid at the time of the order. The second installment of 30% was paid after the installation, and the last installment of 40% was paid after the acceptance by the customer. Thus, at the time I joined Brookhaven, Dan had 70% of his commission outstanding. In addition, he had received an "order of intent" for a second 6600 computer system and was negotiating an order for "EXTENDED CORE STORAGE", also a significant order.

About the Author

I was born in Kiyiv on November 1, 1937. My father, a world-class chemist, was murdered by the Soviets in 1941, six days before Kiyiv fell to the Germans. We retreated with the German front to Berlin in 1943. My mother remarried (George, a Russian journalist) in 1943. I got my elementary schooling in Berlin (1945–1949). We were rescued by the Allied commander in Berlin in 1949 and transferred to West Germany in 1949 (Cornberg-Fulda-Mittenwald)—with the intervention by Eleanor Roosevelt. My parents were debriefed in Mittenwald by Americans (1949–1951). We moved to Munich (1951–1957). When George was nearly caught by the Soviets in Munich again in 1957, we immigrated to the USA, March 15, 1957. I graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1960 with a BS degree in mathematics. I entered the workforce in 1960 and continued with my postgraduate work at CCNY (MS in math in 1963). I took further graduate work at Adelphi University in mathematics while working full-time.