Dudley Allen Buck
Encyclopedia
Dr. Dudley Allen Buck was an electrical engineer and inventor of components for high-speed computing devices in the 1950s. He is best known for invention of the cryotron, a superconductive computer component that is operated in liquid helium at a temperature near absolute 0. Other inventions were ferroelectric memory
, content addressable memory, non-destructive sensing of magnetic fields, and, development of writing printed circuits with a beam of electrons.
was entered into his MIT notebook on December 15, 1953. By 1955, Buck was building practical cryotron devices with niobium and tantalum. The cryotron was a great breakthrough in the size of electronic computer elements. In the next decade, cryotron research at other laboratories resulted in the invention of the Crowe Cell at IBM, the Josephson Junction, and the SQUID
. Those inventions have today made possible the mapping of brain activity by magnetoencephalography
. Despite the need for liquid helium, cryotrons were expected to make computers so small, that in 1957, Life Magazine displayed a full-page photograph of Dudley Buck with a cryotron in one hand and a vacuum tube in the other.
Another key invention by Dr. Buck was a method of non-destructive sensing of magnetic materials. In the process of reading data from a typical magnetic core memory, the contents of the memory are erased, making it necessary to take additional time to re-write the data back into the magnetic storage. By design of 'quadrature sensing' of magnetic fields, the state of magnetism of the core may be read without alteration, thus eliminating the extra time required to re-write memory data.
Dudley Buck invented recognition unit memory. Also called content addressable memory
, it is a technique of storing and retrieving data in which there is no need to know the location of that data. Not only is there no need to query an index for the location of data, the inquiry for data is broadcast to all memory elements simultaneously; thus data retrieval time is independent of the size of the database.
FeRAM was first built by Buck as part of his thesis work in 1952. In addition to its use as computer memory, ferroelectric materials can be used to build shift registers, logic, and amplifiers. Buck showed that a ferroelectric switch could be useful to perform memory addressing.
. He was assigned to work with another graduate student, William N. Papian, to work with various manufacturers developing the ferrite materials to be used in Coincident Current Magnetic core memory
.
Buck completed his S.M degree in 1952 at MIT. His thesis for the degree was Ferroelectrics for Digital Information Storage and Switching. The thesis was supervised by Arthur R. von Hippel
. In this work he demonstrated the principles of storing data in ferroelectric materials; the earliest demonstration of Ferroelectric memory, or FeRAM. This work also demonstrated that ferroelectric materials could be used as voltage controlled switches to address memory, whereas close friend and fellow student Ken Olsen
's saturable switch used ferrites and was a current operated switch.
In late 1951 Dudley Buck proposed computer circuits that used neither vacuum tubes, nor the recently invented transistor. It is possible to make all computer logic circuits, including shift registers, counters, and accumulators using only magnetic cores, wire and diodes. Magnetic logic was used in the KW-26
cryptographic communications system, and in the BOGART computer.
By 1957, Buck began to place more emphasis on miniaturization of cryotron systems. The speed that cryotron devices could attain is greater as size of the device is reduced. Dr. Buck, his students, and researcher Kenneth R. Shoulders made great progress manufacturing thin-film cryotron integrated circuits in the laboratory at MIT. Developments included the creation of oxide layers as insulation and for mechanical strength by electron beam reduction of chemicals. This work, co-authored with Kenneth Shoulders, was published as "An Approach to Microminiature Printed Systems". It was presented in December, 1958, at the Eastern Joint Computer Conference in Philadelphia.
awarded Dudley Buck the Browder J. Thompson award for engineers under the age of 30.
After graduation from University of Washington, Dudley Buck served in the U.S. Navy for two years at Nebraska Avenue in Washington, D.C. He entered the reserves in 1950 and then began his career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Per a request by chairman Dr. Louis Ridenour
, Solomon Kullback
appointed Dr. Buck to the National Security Agency Scientific Advisory Board Panel on Electronics and Data Processing in December, 1958.
Dr. Buck died suddenly May 21, 1959, just weeks after his 32nd birthday.
Publications
1951 Binary Counting with Magnetic Cores
1952 Ferroelectrics for Digital Information Storage and Switching
1952 Magnetic and Dielectric Amplifiers http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/39059/MC665_r04_E-477.pdf
1958 An Approach to Microminiature Printed Systems http://www.dtic.mil/srch/doc?collection=t3&id=AD0248834
1962 Switching Circuits - chapter 13 in Computer Handbook book by Harry Huskey
Patents:
2,832,897 Magnetically Controlled Gating Element
2,933,618 Saturable Switch
2,936,435 High Speed Cryotron
2,959,688 Multiple Gate Cryotron Switch
2,987,707 Magnetic Data Conversion Apparatus
3,001,178 Electrical Memory Circuits
3,011,711 Cryogenic Computing Devices
3,019,978 Cryotron Translator
Ferroelectric RAM
Ferroelectric RAM is a random-access memory similar in construction to DRAM but uses a ferroelectric layer instead of a dielectric layer to achieve non-volatility. FeRAM is one of a growing number of alternative non-volatile memory technologies that offer the same functionality as Flash memory...
, content addressable memory, non-destructive sensing of magnetic fields, and, development of writing printed circuits with a beam of electrons.
Inventions
The basic idea for the cryotronCryotron
The cryotron is a switch that operates using superconductivity. The cryotron works on the principle that magnetic fields destroy superconductivity. This simple device consists of two superconducting wires with different critical temperature . A straight wire of tantalum is wrapped around with a...
was entered into his MIT notebook on December 15, 1953. By 1955, Buck was building practical cryotron devices with niobium and tantalum. The cryotron was a great breakthrough in the size of electronic computer elements. In the next decade, cryotron research at other laboratories resulted in the invention of the Crowe Cell at IBM, the Josephson Junction, and the SQUID
SQUID
A SQUID is a very sensitive magnetometer used to measure extremely weak magnetic fields, based on superconducting loops containing Josephson junctions....
. Those inventions have today made possible the mapping of brain activity by magnetoencephalography
Magnetoencephalography
Magnetoencephalography is a technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using arrays of SQUIDs...
. Despite the need for liquid helium, cryotrons were expected to make computers so small, that in 1957, Life Magazine displayed a full-page photograph of Dudley Buck with a cryotron in one hand and a vacuum tube in the other.
Another key invention by Dr. Buck was a method of non-destructive sensing of magnetic materials. In the process of reading data from a typical magnetic core memory, the contents of the memory are erased, making it necessary to take additional time to re-write the data back into the magnetic storage. By design of 'quadrature sensing' of magnetic fields, the state of magnetism of the core may be read without alteration, thus eliminating the extra time required to re-write memory data.
Dudley Buck invented recognition unit memory. Also called content addressable memory
Content-addressable memory
Content-addressable memory is a special type of computer memory used in certain very high speed searching applications. It is also known as associative memory, associative storage, or associative array, although the last term is more often used for a programming data structure...
, it is a technique of storing and retrieving data in which there is no need to know the location of that data. Not only is there no need to query an index for the location of data, the inquiry for data is broadcast to all memory elements simultaneously; thus data retrieval time is independent of the size of the database.
FeRAM was first built by Buck as part of his thesis work in 1952. In addition to its use as computer memory, ferroelectric materials can be used to build shift registers, logic, and amplifiers. Buck showed that a ferroelectric switch could be useful to perform memory addressing.
Research
A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Buck earned a Doctor of Science from M.I.T. in 1958. Buck began as a research assistant while a graduate student at MIT in 1950. His first assignment was on the I/O systems of the Whirlwind (computer)Whirlwind (computer)
The Whirlwind computer was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is the first computer that operated in real time, used video displays for output, and the first that was not simply an electronic replacement of older mechanical systems...
. He was assigned to work with another graduate student, William N. Papian, to work with various manufacturers developing the ferrite materials to be used in Coincident Current Magnetic core memory
Magnetic core memory
Magnetic-core memory was the predominant form of random-access computer memory for 20 years . It uses tiny magnetic toroids , the cores, through which wires are threaded to write and read information. Each core represents one bit of information...
.
Buck completed his S.M degree in 1952 at MIT. His thesis for the degree was Ferroelectrics for Digital Information Storage and Switching. The thesis was supervised by Arthur R. von Hippel
Arthur R. von Hippel
Arthur Robert von Hippel was a German American materials scientist and physicist. Von Hippel was a pioneer in the study of dielectrics, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials, and semiconductors and was a codeveloper of radar during World War II.-Early life:Von Hippel was born in Rostock,...
. In this work he demonstrated the principles of storing data in ferroelectric materials; the earliest demonstration of Ferroelectric memory, or FeRAM. This work also demonstrated that ferroelectric materials could be used as voltage controlled switches to address memory, whereas close friend and fellow student Ken Olsen
Ken Olsen
Kenneth Harry Olsen was an American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson.-Background:...
's saturable switch used ferrites and was a current operated switch.
In late 1951 Dudley Buck proposed computer circuits that used neither vacuum tubes, nor the recently invented transistor. It is possible to make all computer logic circuits, including shift registers, counters, and accumulators using only magnetic cores, wire and diodes. Magnetic logic was used in the KW-26
KW-26
The TSEC/KW-26, code named ROMULUS, was an encryption system used by the U.S. Government and, later, by NATO countries. It was developed in the 1950s by the National Security Agency to secure fixed teleprinter circuits that operated 24 hours a day...
cryptographic communications system, and in the BOGART computer.
By 1957, Buck began to place more emphasis on miniaturization of cryotron systems. The speed that cryotron devices could attain is greater as size of the device is reduced. Dr. Buck, his students, and researcher Kenneth R. Shoulders made great progress manufacturing thin-film cryotron integrated circuits in the laboratory at MIT. Developments included the creation of oxide layers as insulation and for mechanical strength by electron beam reduction of chemicals. This work, co-authored with Kenneth Shoulders, was published as "An Approach to Microminiature Printed Systems". It was presented in December, 1958, at the Eastern Joint Computer Conference in Philadelphia.
Awards
In 1957 the Institute of Radio EngineersInstitute of Radio Engineers
The Institute of Radio Engineers was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .-Founding:Following several attempts to form a...
awarded Dudley Buck the Browder J. Thompson award for engineers under the age of 30.
Biography
Dudley A. Buck was born in San Francisco, California 25 April 1927. Dudley and siblings moved to Santa Barbara, California, in 1940. In 1943 Dudley Buck earned his Amateur Radio License W6WCK and a First Class Radiotelephone Operator license for commercial work. He worked part time at Santa Barbara radio station KTMS until he left to attend college.After graduation from University of Washington, Dudley Buck served in the U.S. Navy for two years at Nebraska Avenue in Washington, D.C. He entered the reserves in 1950 and then began his career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Per a request by chairman Dr. Louis Ridenour
Louis Ridenour
Dr. Louis N. Ridenour was a physicist instrumental in U.S. development of radar, Vice President of Lockheed, and an advisor to President Eisenhower.- Biography and positions Held :During World War II, Ridenour worked at the MIT Radiation Laboratory....
, Solomon Kullback
Solomon Kullback
Solomon Kullback was an American cryptanalyst and mathematician, who was one of the first three employees hired by William F. Friedman at the US Army's Signal Intelligence Service in the 1930s, along with Frank Rowlett and Abraham Sinkov. He went on to a long and distinguished career at SIS and...
appointed Dr. Buck to the National Security Agency Scientific Advisory Board Panel on Electronics and Data Processing in December, 1958.
Dr. Buck died suddenly May 21, 1959, just weeks after his 32nd birthday.
Publications
1951 Binary Counting with Magnetic Cores
1952 Ferroelectrics for Digital Information Storage and Switching
1952 Magnetic and Dielectric Amplifiers http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/39059/MC665_r04_E-477.pdf
1958 An Approach to Microminiature Printed Systems http://www.dtic.mil/srch/doc?collection=t3&id=AD0248834
1962 Switching Circuits - chapter 13 in Computer Handbook book by Harry Huskey
Harry Huskey
Harry Douglas Huskey is an American computer designer pioneer.Huskey was born in the Smoky Mountains region of North Carolina and grew up in Idaho. He gained his Master's and then his PhD in 1943 from the Ohio State University on Contributions to the Problem of Geocze...
Patents:
2,832,897 Magnetically Controlled Gating Element
2,933,618 Saturable Switch
2,936,435 High Speed Cryotron
2,959,688 Multiple Gate Cryotron Switch
2,987,707 Magnetic Data Conversion Apparatus
3,001,178 Electrical Memory Circuits
3,011,711 Cryogenic Computing Devices
3,019,978 Cryotron Translator