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Title: Steven J. Wallach papers
Identifier/Call Number: X7583.2016
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
41.67 Linear feet,
33 record cartons and 1 manuscript box
Date (inclusive): 1965-2010
Abstract: The Steven J. Wallach papers document Wallach's career as an engineer and technology manager specializing in high-performance
computing and supercomputers. The papers, dating between 1965 to 2010, consist of published manuals and documentation, technical
reports, memoranda, engineering notebooks, course and presentation materials, conference proceedings, and a small amount of
audio-visual material. Much of the material is related to the various machines, hardware, and computer languages that Wallach
worked with during his career. The collection also contains material from Wallach's work at Raytheon, Data General, and Convex
Computer Corporation. Government, committee, and task force technical reports from groups such as PITAC, NSF, and NCSA, are
a significant part of the collection as well.
creator:
Wallach, Steven J., 1945-
Collection surveyed by Sydney Gulbronson Olson, 2017.
The collection is open for research. However, the collection may require review by CHM staff before viewing.
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
[Identification of Item], [Date], Steven J. Wallach papers, Lot X7583.2016, Box [#], Computer History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Steven J. Wallach, 2015.
Steven J. Wallach is an engineer, consultant, and technology manager specializing in high-performance computing and supercomputers.
Born in Brooklyn in September 1945, Wallach received a B.S.E.E. from the Polytechnic University, New York (formerly Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn) and an M.S.E.E. from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received an MBA from Boston University.
From 1970 to 1975, Wallach worked as a senior engineer with Raytheon Missile Systems Division, in Bedford, Massachusetts.
For the following five years, he was manager of Advanced Development for Data General. His efforts on the MV 8000 minicomputer
are chronicled in Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Soul of a New Machine." Wallach co-founded Convex Computer
Corporation in 1982, working as the company's chief technology officer and senior vice president of development. After Hewlett-Packard
bought Convex in 1995, Wallach became the chief technology officer of HP's Enterprise Systems Group. During his career, he
also served as vice president of technology for Chiaro Networks and was a visiting professor at Rice University from 1998
to 1999. Wallach served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Simulation and Computing Program at Los
Alamos National Laboratory from 1998 to 2007. In 2008, Wallach co-founded Convey Computer, serving as the company's chief
scientist. After Micron Technologies bought Convey in 2015, Wallach continued to work at Micron as a design-engineering director.
He has also been an adviser to venture capital firms including CenterPoint Ventures, Sevin-Rosen, and InterWest Partners.
Wallach has 38 patents and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, and was a founding member of
the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee. Wallach is the 2008 recipient of the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering
Award, an award given by the IEEE Computer Society to recognize contributions in the field of high-performance computing.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Steven J. Wallach papers consist of published manuals and documentation, technical reports, engineering notebooks, course
and presentation materials, reports from government committees, conference proceedings, and a small amount of audio-visual
material.
About a third of the collection consists of published documentation such as user and instruction manuals, system architecture
guides, and reference guides for languages, hardware, and computer systems. Wallach organized this documentation into binders
by company and by product, and often filed handwritten notes with the documentation. Examples of companies represented in
this portion of the collection include: Alliant, Burroughs, Control Data Corporation, Cray, DataSaab, Digital Equipment Corporation,
Elxsi, Encore Computer Corporation, Honeywell, HP, IBM, Interdata, Intel, Perkin-Elmer, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments,
and Thinking Machines Corporation.
Government, committee, and technical reports comprise another third of the collection. This includes binders and reports from
groups such as PITAC, NSF, NCSA, as well as a number of other committees, projects, and task forces.
Approximately twenty percent of the Wallach papers contain documentation, memos, and reports from his work at Raytheon, Data
General, and Convex Computer Corporation. This portion of the collection also includes Wallach's personal engineering notebooks,
course notes, and presentation materials.
Conference proceedings and journals, such as ACM Computer Architecture News, the Journal of Supercomputing, and the International
Conference on Supercomputing, make up about fifteen percent of the collection. A small amount of VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs
are also included.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Convex Computer Corporation.
Data General Corporation.
Raytheon Missile Systems Company.
High performance computing
Supercomputer industry
Supercomputing
United States. President's Information Technology Advisory Committee