3 ms·
The headline suggests one thing, the article shows another: > In 1965 the University of Utah hired him to establish its computer science department after recei
by benatkin 3y ago
The headline suggests one thing, the article shows another:
> In 1965 the University of Utah hired him to establish its computer science department after receiving an ARPA grant of US $5 million to investigate how the emerging field of computer graphics could play a role in the country’s technological competitiveness, according to Computer Graphics and Computer Animation.
While it's impressive that this could happen in Utah, it seems to have depended on a timely grant from a federal agency.
- canucker2016 3y agoexcerpt from "Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC..." "Some fields of study owed their existence to his [Bob Taylor] largesse. Among them was computer graphics, which came to life at the University of Utah when Dave Evans, a devout Mormon who had led the Genie team building the time-sharing SDS 940 at UC Berkeley, called Taylor to say his alma mater had invited him to return to Salt Lake to start a computer program. How about an ARPA project, he asked, to get it going?" "...If Evans was willing to start such a program in the backwater of Utah, where it could develop in pristine isolation from the traditionalist thinking elsewhere, Taylor was all for it. The venture turned out better than anyone could have expected. The program Taylor funded partially as a personal experiment and partially as a favor to an old friend evolved into a world leader in computer graphics research."
- benatkin 3y agoInteresting and it makes sense that a backwater would be helpful, giving it a similar vibe to Skunk Works. Not too much though. I think most parts of Utah would be unsuitable, but University of Utah is pretty good. It is right up on the edge of the mountain range, and in the biggest city of Utah.