Chippewa Falls Wisconsin home to dairy farms line and Google beer and supercomputing this is

the cray-1 built in 1976 in Chippewa Falls it's been called the fastest computer on earth a
masterpiece of engineering and the world's most expensive loveseat it's blinding speed drove
advances in science industry and defense labs fought to own the coveted cereal one model but
perhaps what it represents best in its genius simplicity and unique style is its legendary inventor
Seymour Cray born in Chippewa Falls in 1925 Cray spent his childhood experimenting with
electronics as a student at the University of Minnesota he astonished engineering professors
with his problem-solving abilities he found the ideal place to launch his career in 1950
Engineering Research Associates krei was able to do what he did best take a blank pad of
paper and pencil and figure out ways to coax more speed from a computer nobody could argue
with his stellar results computing speeds 10 to 100 times faster than the competition in 1958
Cray left ER a to join the fledgling control Data Corporation CDC but feeling stifled by upper
management Cray convinced CDC to fund a lab in Chippewa Falls 90 miles from corporate
headquarters he built a home on 65 acres for his family and put the CDC lab in his backyard
creig's engineering staff led by Les Davis followed him to Chippewa the saying was what
Seymour threw out the window les would catch do you really was the one that had the ideas he
pretty much pioneered holida magis would be built and then he would pass that on to the
engineers to get into development krei enjoyed sports and hobbies some unusual such as
digging a tunnel beneath his home he wants joked that elves inspired him as he dug but odds
see more stories only enhanced his mystique as an eccentric genius in his work Cray insisted
on several principles start fresh with each new project designed simply using proven
technologies and work in small groups with a single decision-maker when work stalled due to
clashes with upper management Cray left and started over after 10 years with CDC's chippewa
lab he launched Cray research and began work on a new supercomputer for three years with
millions of dollars in development costs and no product to sell Cray research struggled to
survive but when the Cray one was unveiled in 1976 it stunned the world the unusual c-shape
allowed shorter wires minimizing signal delays freon cooling tubes remove the heat generated
by the tightly packed circuits the loveseat hid the power supply craze unique design made it the
fastest computer in the world and yes customers could pick the color of the upholstery crane
research needed to sell a dozen to survive they sold more than a hundred throughout his 45
year career craze bold ideas secured his place at the forefront of the super computing industry
in 1996 at age 71 Cray had just begun designing a new computer when driving down Colorado
Interstate 25 his Jeep was clipped by another car and rolled three times he died three days later
when Seymour Cray lost his life the computer industry lost one of its brightest stars engineers
lost a hero Chippewa Falls treasured son but crazed legacy as the father of super computing
lives on his brilliant innovation and unswerving commitment defined the era of supercomputers I
never thought that I'd had an opportunity like that but even as some of us get together
nowadays and we talked about we said boy those were really great days our thing
Seymour cray was born in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin from 1950 to 1957 Seymour work for
engineering research Associates in Saint Paul Minnesota his responsibilities included the 1103
system in 1957 Seymour was one of the founders of Control Data Corporation responsible for
the design of the 1604 6600 and 7600 systems in 1972 Seymour founded cray research
incorporated responsible for the design of the cray one the Kray 2 and the cray 3 systems the
Albert Einstein of super Computing Seymour crane [Music] [Music] oh [Music] no matter what it
took to your post-world leader in nuclear research the United States would make it happen flurry
of computers each faster than the next created an industry that built machines for both business
and science machines Built For Speed no matter what the compromise it's a tale of one
engineer and his team who led the way designed the hardware and fought the bureaucracy to
push science forward a Chronicle of Daring designs Financial risks and a Relentless pursuit of
progress the story of the people the designs and the Innovations created the fastest machines
in the world is the story of the supercomputer [Music] foreign [Music]