Stibitz, George Robert

born April 20, 1904, York, Pa., U.S.

died Jan. 31, 1995, Hanover, N.H.

U.S. mathematician and inventor.

He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University. In 1940 he and Samuel Williams, a colleague at Bell Labs, built the Complex Number Calculator, considered a forerunner of the digital computer. He accomplished the first remote computer operation by inputting problems via Teletype, and he pioneered computer applications in biomedical areas, such as the movement of oxygen in the lungs, brain cell structure, diffusion of nutrients and drugs in the body, and capillary transport. The holder of 38 patents, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1983.

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▪ 1996

      U.S. mathematician (b. April 30, 1904, York, Pa.—d. Jan. 31, 1995, Hanover, N.H.), was regarded by many as the “father of the modern digital computer.” While serving as a research mathematician at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City, Stibitz worked on relay switching equipment used in telephone networks. Because he and his colleagues were unable to quickly perform the complex mathematical calculations needed for this work, Stibitz began tinkering at home and devised a primitive binary adder comprising dry-cell batteries, metal strips from a tobacco can, and flashlight bulbs connected to two old telephone relays. Stibitz and co-worker Samuel Williams, an engineer, expanded this desktop electrical device into the closet-size Model I Complex Calculator, which became operational at Bell Labs on Jan. 8, 1940. The machine remained in use until 1949 and was considered a forerunner of the digital computer. A replica of Stibitz' first rudimentary adder later was housed in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. In 1940 Stibitz also achieved what was believed to have been the first remote computer operation when he transmitted problems to be solved over a teletypewriter from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., to a Bell Labs Model I computer in New York City and received the answers back in the same way. After earning (1930) a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., Stibitz joined Bell Labs, where he remained until 1941. During World War II he served on the U.S. National Defense Research Committee and also conducted research on binary computers for military use. He then worked as a private consultant until joining (1964) the faculty of Dartmouth Medical School as professor of physiology. There he pioneered computer applications in such biomedical areas as the movement of oxygen in the lungs, brain-cell anatomy, the diffusion of nutrients and drugs in the body, and capillary transport. In 1973 he became professor emeritus, but he continued to conduct research into the 1980s. Stibitz, who held 38 patents, was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1983 and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1981.

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