Gerrit Blaauw

Gerrit Blaauw
Gerrit Blaauw
Born	Gerrit Anne Blaauw; 17 July 1924 (age 102); The Hague, Netherlands
Died	21 March 2018 (aged 93); Utrecht, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Computer scientist, professor
Years active	1946–1989
Known for	Chief architect of IBM System/360 series

Gerrit Anne "Gerry" Blaauw (17 July 1924 – 21 March 2018) was a prominent Dutch computer scientist, best known as one of the chief architects behind the IBM System/360 series, working alongside notable figures such as Fred Brooks and Gene Amdahl.

Biography

Originating from The Hague, Blaauw completed his undergraduate studies at the Delft University of Technology in 1946. In 1947, he was awarded a prestigious IBM scholarship sponsored by CEO Thomas J. Watson. Following a year at Lafayette College, he pursued graduate education at Harvard University, obtaining a master's degree in 1949 and a doctorate in 1952 under the mentorship of Howard Aiken. During his time at Harvard, Blaauw played a role in developing the Mark III and Mark IV computing machines and established a professional connection with Fred Brooks.

Upon returning to the Netherlands in 1952, Blaauw joined the Mathematical Centre, contributing to the development of the second ARRA computer. In 1955, he became part of IBM's Poughkeepsie research facility, collaborating with Brooks on various initiatives:

Serving as a designer for the IBM 7030 STRETCH project.
Creating a paging mechanism for the IBM 8106 as part of the IBM 8000 series development.
Acting as a principal engineer on the IBM System/360 program unveiled in 1964, where he supported an 8-bit design rather than a 6-bit configuration.

Blaauw was also responsible for designing the "Blaauw Box," an innovative address translation device initially excluded from the System/360 but which later influenced IBM's proposal for MIT's Project MAC. The Dynamic Address Translation (DAT) hardware derived from this concept was integrated into the influential IBM System/360-67, facilitating some of the earliest commercially viable paged virtual memory implementations. The Model 67 entered commercial service by 1968. Comparable virtual memory features were subsequently adopted as standard in later IBM System/370 models.

After his tenure at IBM, Blaauw accepted a professorship in computer science within the Netherlands, eventually retiring with emeritus status from Universiteit Twente in 1989. He was honored with membership in the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982. In collaboration with Fred Brooks, he authored Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution in 1997.

Blaauw passed away in Utrecht. A committed Christian, he engaged thoughtfully with the discourse between science and religion, producing a booklet on this subject that has been translated into several languages.

Selected publications

Blaauw, Gerrit A. Digital system implementation. Prentice Hall PTR, 1976.
Blaauw, Gerrit A., and Frederick P. Brooks Jr. Computer architecture: concepts and evolution. Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., 1997.
Blaauw, Gerrit A. Scripture and Science: An Unexpected Harmony. 2014. Published online (archived 2018)

Selected articles

Brooks, Frederick P., Gerrit A. Blaauw, and Wilfried Buchholz. "Processing data in bits and pieces." IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers 2 (1959): 118-124.
Amdahl, G. M., Blaauw, G. A., and Brooks, F. P. "Architecture of the IBM System/360." IBM Journal of Research and Development 8, no. 2 (1964): 87–101.
Blaauw, Gerrit A., and Frederick P. Brooks Jr. "The structure of SYSTEM/360: Part I—Outline of the logical structure." IBM Systems Journal 3, no. 2 (1964): 119-135.

Patents

Amdahl, Gene M., et al. "Data processing system." U.S. Patent No. 3,400,371. September 3, 1968.

External links

Gerrit Blaauw, a notable but often overlooked figure in Dutch computing history (archived).
DIESREDE BLAAUW: BESCHRIJVEN EN BEGRIJPEN (1976, Dutch language)

Biography

Selected publications

Further reading

External links