Jules I. Schwartz (June 26, 1927 – June 6, 2013) was an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (a ...

chiefly known for his creation of the

JOVIAL JOVIAL is a high-level programming language based on ALGOL 58, specialized for developing embedded systems (specialized computer systems designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions, usually embedded as part of a larger, more complete dev ...

programming language. He served in the United States Army in both World War II and the Korean War. He attended graduate school at Columbia University, where he received a Master of Arts in Mathematics in 1961. At Columbia Schwartz became acquainted with some early computers at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York. In 1954 he joined

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

where he developed utility software for the

JOHNNIAC The JOHNNIAC was an early computer built by the RAND Corporation (not Remington Rand, maker of the contemporaneous UNIVAC I computer) and based on the von Neumann architecture that had been pioneered on the IAS machine. It was named in honor of v ...

computer and worked on PACT compiler for the IBM 704. In 1955 he joined the MIT Lincoln Laboratory to work on the

SAGE computer The AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central, referred to as the Q7 for short, was a computerized command and control system for Cold War ground-controlled interception used in the USAF Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense network. Th ...

. Schwartz went with System Development Corporation (SDC) when it was spun off from RAND in 1957. At SDC he helped develop the JOVIAL programming language in 1959-1960 —the acronym standing for ''Jules Own Version of the International Algorithmic Language'', although Schwartz claimed this was originally a joke. After this he worked on the

AN/FSQ-32 The AN/FSQ-32 SAGE Solid State Computer (AN/FSQ-7A before December 1958, colloq. "Q-32") was a planned military computer central for deployment to Super Combat Centers in nuclear bunkers and to some above-ground military installations. In 1958, ...

computer system and other projects, eventually becoming director of technology at SDC. In 1970 he began working at

Computer Sciences Corporation Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Ente ...

(CSC).

References

External links

Oral history interview with Jules I. Schwartz
(1989).

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation ...

, University of Minnesota. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Jules 1927 births 2013 deaths American computer scientists United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War Columbia University alumni RAND Corporation people MIT Lincoln Laboratory people