Fred Brooks
Encyclopedia
Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr. (born April 19, 1931) is a software engineer
and computer scientist
, best known for managing the development of IBM
's System/360
family of computers and the OS/360 software support package, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book The Mythical Man-Month
. Brooks has received many awards, including the National Medal of Technology
in 1985 and the Turing Award
in 1999.
, North Carolina, he attended Duke University
, graduating in 1953, and he received a Ph.D.
in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) from Harvard University
in 1956. Howard Aiken
was his advisor.
Brooks joined IBM
in 1956, working in Poughkeepsie, New York and Yorktown
, New York. He worked on the architecture of the IBM 7030 Stretch, a $10m scientific supercomputer of which nine were sold, and the IBM 7950 Harvest computer for the National Security Agency. Subsequently, he became manager for the development of the System/360
family of computers and the OS/360 software package. During this time he coined the term computer architecture
.
It was in The Mythical Man-Month that Brooks made the now-famous statement: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." This has since come to be known as the Brooks's law. In addition to The Mythical Man-Month, Brooks is also known for the paper No Silver Bullet
: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering.
In 1964, Brooks founded the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and chaired it for 20 years. he was still engaged in active research there, primarily in virtual environments and scientific visualization
.
In a 2010 interview by Kevin Kelly for an article in Wired Magazine, Brooks was asked "What do you consider your greatest technological achievement?" Brooks responded "The most important single decision I ever made was to change the IBM 360 series from a 6-bit
byte
to an 8-bit byte, thereby enabling the use of lowercase letters. That change propagated everywhere."
A "20th anniversary" edition of The Mythical Man-Month
with four additional chapters was published in 1995.
In January 2005 he gave the IEE
/BCS
annual Turing
Lecture in London
on the subject of "Collaboration and Telecollaboration in Design". In 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
.
He is an evangelical Christian who is active with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
.
Software engineer
A software engineer is an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as computer chips, work.- Overview :...
and computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
, best known for managing the development of IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's System/360
System/360
The IBM System/360 was a mainframe computer system family first announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and sold between 1964 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover the complete range of applications, from small to large, both commercial and scientific...
family of computers and the OS/360 software support package, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book The Mythical Man-Month
The Mythical Man-Month
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering is a book on software engineering and project management by Fred Brooks, whose central theme is that "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"...
. Brooks has received many awards, including the National Medal of Technology
National Medal of Technology
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
in 1985 and the Turing Award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
in 1999.
Life and career
Born in DurhamDurham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, North Carolina, he attended Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, graduating in 1953, and he received a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1956. Howard Aiken
Howard Aiken
Howard Hathaway Aiken was a pioneer in computing, being the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I computer....
was his advisor.
Brooks joined IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in 1956, working in Poughkeepsie, New York and Yorktown
Yorktown, New York
Yorktown is a town in Westchester County, New York, in the suburbs of New York about north of midtown Manhattan. The town lies on the north border of Westchester County...
, New York. He worked on the architecture of the IBM 7030 Stretch, a $10m scientific supercomputer of which nine were sold, and the IBM 7950 Harvest computer for the National Security Agency. Subsequently, he became manager for the development of the System/360
System/360
The IBM System/360 was a mainframe computer system family first announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and sold between 1964 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover the complete range of applications, from small to large, both commercial and scientific...
family of computers and the OS/360 software package. During this time he coined the term computer architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
.
It was in The Mythical Man-Month that Brooks made the now-famous statement: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." This has since come to be known as the Brooks's law. In addition to The Mythical Man-Month, Brooks is also known for the paper No Silver Bullet
No Silver Bullet
"No Silver Bullet — Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering" is a widely discussed paper on software engineering written by Fred Brooks in 1986...
: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering.
In 1964, Brooks founded the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and chaired it for 20 years. he was still engaged in active research there, primarily in virtual environments and scientific visualization
Scientific visualization
Scientific visualization is an interdisciplinary branch of science according to Friendly "primarily concerned with the visualization of three-dimensional phenomena , where the emphasis is on realistic renderings of volumes, surfaces, illumination sources, and so forth, perhaps...
.
In a 2010 interview by Kevin Kelly for an article in Wired Magazine, Brooks was asked "What do you consider your greatest technological achievement?" Brooks responded "The most important single decision I ever made was to change the IBM 360 series from a 6-bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
byte
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
to an 8-bit byte, thereby enabling the use of lowercase letters. That change propagated everywhere."
A "20th anniversary" edition of The Mythical Man-Month
The Mythical Man-Month
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering is a book on software engineering and project management by Fred Brooks, whose central theme is that "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"...
with four additional chapters was published in 1995.
In January 2005 he gave the IEE
Institution of Engineering and Technology
The Institution of Engineering and Technology is a British professional body for those working in engineering and technology in the United Kingdom and worldwide. It was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers , dating back to 1871, and the...
/BCS
British Computer Society
The British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
annual Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
Lecture in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the subject of "Collaboration and Telecollaboration in Design". In 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
.
He is an evangelical Christian who is active with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is an inter-denominational, evangelical Christian, student-led ministry which for the past 70 years has been dedicated to establishing witnessing communities on U.S. college and university campuses...
.
Service and memberships
He has served on a number of US national boards and committees.- Defense Science BoardDefense Science BoardThe Defense Science Board is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters...
(1983–86) - Member, Artificial Intelligence Task Force (1983–84)
- Chairman, Military Software Task Force (1985–87)
- Member, Computers in Simulation and Training Task Force (1986–87)
- National Science BoardNational Science BoardThe National Science Board of the United States is composed of 25 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, representing the broad U.S. science and engineering community. The Board establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation within the framework...
(1987–1992)
Awards
In chronological order:- Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (1968)
- McDowell AwardMcDowell AwardThe W. Wallace McDowell Award is awarded by the IEEE Computer Society for outstanding recent theoretical, design, educational, practical, or other similar innovative contributions that fall within the scope of Computer Society interest...
for Outstanding Contribution to the Computer Art, IEEE Computer Group (1970) - Computer Sciences Distinguished Information Services Award, Information Technology Professionals (1970)
- Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
for studies on computer architecture and human factors of computer systems, Cambridge University, England (1975) - Member, National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
(1976) - Fellow, American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(1976) - Computer Pioneer Award, IEEE Computer SocietyIEEE Computer SocietyThe IEEE Computer Society is a professional society of IEEE. Its purpose and scope is “to advance the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing science and technology” and the “professional standing of its members.” The CS is the largest of 38 technical societies...
(1982) - National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1985)
- Thomas Jefferson AwardThomas Jefferson MedalThe Thomas Jefferson Medal may refer to several different awards named in honor of Thomas Jefferson:*The Thomas Jefferson Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences is given by the American Philosophical Society...
, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
(1986) - Distinguished Service AwardDistinguished Service Medal (disambiguation)The Distinguished Service Medal is a decoration. Different versions exist for different countries.*Distinguished Service Medal : Awarded for distinguished leadership in action....
, Association for Computing Machinery (1987) - Harry Goode Memorial Award, American Federation of Information Processing SocietiesAmerican Federation of Information Processing SocietiesThe American Federation of Information Processing Societies was an umbrella organization of professional societies established on May 10, 1961 and dissolved in 1990...
(1989) - Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesThe Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands...
(1991) - Honorary Doctor of Technical Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich (1991)
- John von Neumann Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1993)
- Fellow (initial inductee), Association for Computer Machinery (1994)
- Distinguished Fellow, British Computer Society (1994)
- Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of EngineeringRoyal Academy of Engineering-Overview: is the UK’s national academy of engineering. The Academy brings together the most successful and talented engineers from across the engineering sectors for a shared purpose: to advance and promote excellence in engineering....
, UK (1994) - Allen Newell Award, Association for Computing Machinery (1994)
- Bower Award and Prize in Science, Franklin Institute (1995)
- CyberEdge Journal Annual Sutherland Award (April, 1997)
- A. M. Turing Award, Association for Computing Machinery (1999)
- Member, National Academy of Science (2001)
- Fellow Award, Computer History MuseumComputer History MuseumThe Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, USA. The Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.-History:The museum's origins...
(2001) - Eckert-Mauchly AwardEckert-Mauchly AwardThe Eckert–Mauchly Award recognizes contributions to digital systems and computer architecture. First awarded in 1979, it was named for John Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly, who between 1943 and 1946 collaborated on the design and construction of the first large scale electronic computing...
, Association for Computing Machinery and The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers–Computer Society (2004) - IEEE Virtual Reality Career Award (2010)