[sweetjesus]

more memorably (ha ha you'll see what I did there) for the majority of people here, Jay Forrester invented core memory which revolutionized computers of that generation. Prior to core, memory schemes were bizarre and klugy, like storing information on the screen of a cathode ray tube, detectable when you scan across it again; or sonic vibrations in mercury which you wait to emerge from the other end.

Primary memory is still called core by old timers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory

[cma]

>Primary memory is still called core by old timers.

Plus we still call them core dumps and have .core files

[hga]

As well as basically the way we still design and build computers to this day.

In the one talk of his I attended, he said he switched to modeling because after he'd finished Whirlwind, he (and his team) had solved all the significant outstanding problems in computer design. And that's not an exaggeration, read this excellent book for the details: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Whirlwind-History-Pioneer-Com...