Forrest Parry
Forrest Corry Parry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Cedar City, Utah, U.S. |
| Died | December 31, 2005 (aged 84) |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Years active | 1957–1987 (IBM career) |
| Known for | Inventing the magnetic stripe card |
Forrest Corry Parry (July 4, 1921 – December 31, 2005) was an American engineer affiliated with IBM who created the magnetic stripe card, a technology widely used in credit cards and identification badges.
Early life
Born in Cedar City, Utah, Parry attended Branch Agricultural College, now known as Southern Utah University, before enrolling at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942. He completed his studies and graduated in June 1945.
Career
Parry served aboard the USS Walke during the Korean War, holding the positions of First Lieutenant and Damage Control Officer. His actions during an attack on the ship earned him a Bronze Star with Valor.
Following his naval service, which ended in 1952, Parry was employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then moved on to work for Dow Chemical and later for Unette Corporation, a company specializing in plastic packaging. In May 1957, he commenced a three-decade tenure with IBM based in Rochester, Minnesota.
Throughout his career at IBM, Parry contributed to the development of various technologies such as high-speed printing devices, optical character recognition systems, Universal Product Code (UPC) scanning technologies, and an Advanced Optical Character Reader (AOCR) designed for mail sorting.
In 1960, Parry invented the magnetic stripe card specifically for use by the U.S. Government. Initially encountering difficulties in attaching magnetic tape to plastic cards, he ultimately succeeded by employing heat—following a suggestion from his wife—using a household flat iron to fuse the magnetic stripe onto the card’s surface. This breakthrough laid the foundation for modern credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, hotel keycards, and security access badges. While magnetic stripes are increasingly being replaced by digital solutions such as QR codes and NFC chips, they continue to play a critical role in payment and identification infrastructures.
Publications
- F. C. Parry, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, "Identification Card", Vol. 3, No. 6, November 6, 1960, p. 8
See also
References
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1921 births
- 2005 deaths
- 20th-century American inventors
- United States Navy personnel of the Korean War
- Dow Chemical Company employees
- IBM employees
- People from Cedar City, Utah
- Southern Utah University alumni
- United States Naval Academy alumni