A Black Computing Pioneer Will take His Place in Engineering Background at MIT

A transient background of a 1950s picture showcasing Joseph Thompson, a single of the unique operators of MIT’s groundbreaking Whirlwind laptop or computer.

The caption on a black-and-white picture reads, in part: “In 1951, substantial college graduate Joe Thompson, 18, was qualified as a person of the 1st two laptop or computer operators. The computer was the Whirlwind, the prototype for the SAGE air protection process.”

MIT’s Whirlwind was one particular of the earliest significant-velocity electronic pcs, and Thompson played a crucial role in its operation at the start off of his many years-extensive profession in computing. With help from Deborah Douglas, director of collections at the MIT Museum, David Brock of the Computer system Background Museum just lately caught up with Thompson, the 1st individual educated as a Whirlwind operator at the MIT Electronic Personal computer Laboratory, to master much more about his time with the job and his subsequent years as a leader in the computing field.

“They at MIT had been on the lookout for brilliant, younger youngsters who ended up not likely to faculty,” Thompson informed Brock. “I was the first [operator] to see if it would perform, and I guess it labored perfectly. … You had to discover the complete method, and you’d get to the issue wherever you understand what they’re accomplishing.”

Also observed in the photograph is program programmer John “Jack” Gilmore. According to a publication from the Laptop or computer Record Museum, “It experienced been Jack Gilmore of the Whirlwind undertaking, well known for his software program contributions, who had been key to bringing Joe Thompson into the challenge in an MIT drive to meet up with the needs for skilled staff members by recruiting from area large schools all those students who were being academically and socially outstanding, but for whom, for whichever causes, university was inaccessible.”

Immediately after Whirlwind, Thompson recognized a position with RAND as a programmer performing on the SAGE air defense technique software package. He transferred to California with the company, and his group eventually spun off into the non-revenue Process Development Company. Thompson retired in the 1990s right after four a long time in computing.

Gilmore would go on to function in innovative computing research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory right before commencing his personal business and shelling out the relaxation of his career in the computing market. He died in 2015.