Franklin H. Westervelt facts for kids
Franklin Herbert Westervelt (born March 26, 1930 – died July 29, 2015) was an American engineer, computer scientist, and teacher. He worked at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. Frank Westervelt earned degrees in Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He received his PhD in 1961. He was a professor and helped lead the University of Michigan Computing Center. He was one of the first people to study how computers could be used to help students learn engineering.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Frank Westervelt was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan on March 26, 1930. His parents were Herbert Oleander Westervelt and Dorothy Ulbright. He loved learning about how things worked, especially computers.
Making Computers Easier to Use
From 1965 to 1970, Frank Westervelt led a special project called CONCOMP. This project was supported by DARPA, a government agency that develops new technologies. The goal of CONCOMP was to make computers easier for people to use and talk to.
He helped design important features for a powerful early computer called the IBM System/360 Model 67. One key feature was virtual memory. Think of virtual memory as a clever way for a computer to pretend it has more memory than it really does. This allows it to run bigger programs and handle more information.
When a special operating system (the main software that runs a computer) for the IBM S/360-67 wasn't ready, the CONCOMP project helped create the Michigan Terminal System (MTS). MTS was a groundbreaking time-sharing system. This meant that many people could use the same computer at the same time, each feeling like they had the computer all to themselves. This was a huge step forward!
His team also developed other cool things, like:
- A way to connect different computer parts, including the first connection built outside of IBM.
- The integration of an Audio Response Unit (ARU), which allowed the computer to "speak" to users.
- The MAD/I compiler, which translated human-written instructions into code the computer could understand.
- Early computer screens that could show pictures, known as mini-computer based graphics terminals.
Connecting Computers: ARPANET and MERIT
Frank Westervelt was also involved in the very early days of the internet. Larry Roberts, who managed the ARPANET program (the early version of the internet), asked Frank to figure out how computers should send messages to each other. He helped write the rules for how computers would communicate, including how to send information, check for errors, and identify different computers and users.
He also helped create the Merit Network, which connected universities in Michigan. This was an important step in linking computers across different campuses.
Inspiring Future Computer Experts
Frank Westervelt was a great teacher. Fred Gibbons, a very successful businessman, said that the University of Michigan College of Engineering was ahead of its time because of professors like Frank Westervelt and Bernard Galler. They gave students early exposure to computer technology when it was still very new.
In 1976, Geoffrey Norman, a Vice President at the University of Michigan, praised Frank Westervelt and two other computer specialists, Bruce Arden and Bartels. He called them a "triumvirate" (a group of three powerful people) who greatly shaped the future of computing. Westervelt was known as the "hardware expert" (the physical parts of the computer), Arden was brilliant in "software and logic," and Bartels helped organize their work. Together, they built an amazing time-sharing computer system.
Teaching at Wayne State University
From 1971 to 1982, Frank Westervelt was the Director of the Computing Service Center at Wayne State University. Later, from 1982 to 2000, he became a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He even served as the department chair.
He was a pioneer in interactive distance learning. This means he helped create ways for students to learn from a distance, using technology. He designed special classrooms and wrote software to make electronic presentations easier. He even helped deliver the first Electrical and Computer Engineering course to students at Ford Motor Company using these distance learning methods. For his important work, Ford Motor Company gave him a special award in 1993.
Frank Westervelt passed away on July 29, 2015, at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
