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`Seymour R. Cray -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
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`Seymour R. Cray
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`Seymour R. Cray, (born Sept. 28, 1925, Chippewa Falls, Wis., U.S.—died Oct. 5, 1996, Colorado Springs, Colo.), American
`electronics engineer and computer designer who was the preeminent designer of the large high-speed computers
`known as supercomputers.
`
`Cray graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He began
`his career at Engineering Research Associates (ERA), a leading digital computer company. In 1957, when ERA was
`taken over in a series of corporate mergers, Cray left to help found Control Data Corp., which became a major
`computer manufacturer. There Cray led the design of the CDC 1604, one of the rst computers to replace vacuum
`tubes with smaller transistors. He later helped create the CDC 6600, which, at the time of its debut in 1964, was the
`fastest computer in the world, able to execute three million oating-point operations per second (FLOPS). The CDC
`6600 gave rise to the term supercomputer.
`
`In 1972 Cray left Control Data and founded his own rm, Cray Research Inc., with
`the intention of building the fastest computers in the world. This was largely
`realized through his innovative design of uniprocessor computers, which allowed
`simultaneous (parallel) processing. His company’s rst supercomputer, the Cray-1,
`which came out in 1976, could perform 240 million calculations per second. It was
`used for large-scale scientic applications, such as simulating complex physical
`phenomena, and was sold to government and university laboratories. Further
`supercomputers followed, each with increased computing speed. Cray resigned
`as chairman of his growing rm in 1981 and became an independent contractor
`to the company, designing ever-faster machines at his laboratory in Chippewa
`Falls.
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`CDC 6600
`
`The CDC 6600, a supercomputer designed
`by Seymour R. Cray.
`Steve Jurvetson
`
`Cray was a pioneer of dividing complex computations among multiple
`processors, a design known as multiprocessing, and his Cray X-MP (1982) was one of the rst machines to use
`multiprocessing. In 1985 the Cray-2 was introduced to the market; this machine, which was cooled by Fluorinert
`electronic liquid, could perform 1.2 billion calculations per second. The Cray Y-MP, introduced in 1988, was capable of
`2.67 billion calculations per second. In 1989 Cray founded the Cray Computer Corporation. However, as microprocessor
`technology advanced and the demand for supercomputers fell in the post-Cold War era, Cray Computer led for
`bankruptcy in 1995. Undaunted, Cray opened another company, SRC Computers, LLC, in August 1996, but he died two
`months later following an automobile accident.
`
`CITATION INFORMATION
`ARTICLE TITLE: Seymour R. Cray
`WEBSITE NAME: Encyclopaedia Britannica
`PUBLISHER: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
`DATE PUBLISHED: 01 October 2018
`URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Seymour-R-Cray
`ACCESS DATE: December 26, 2018
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`https://www.britannica.com/print/article/142037
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