Kenneth Harry Olsen (February 20, 1926 – February 6, 2011) was an American engineer who co-founded

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...

(DEC) in 1957 with colleague Harlan Anderson and his brother Stan Olsen.

Background

Kenneth Harry Olsen was born in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

and grew up in the neighboring town of

Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bri ...

. His father's parents came from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and his mother's parents from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Olsen began his career working summers in a machine shop. Fixing radios in his basement gave him the reputation of a neighborhood inventor. After serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

between 1944 and 1946, Olsen attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where he earned both a BS (1950) and an MS (1952) degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Career

Pre-DEC

During his studies at MIT, the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

of the

United States Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DON) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary of War James McHenr ...

recruited Olsen to help build a computerized flight simulator. Also while at MIT, he directed the building of the first

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

ized research computer, the

TX-0 The TX-0, for ''Transistorized Experimental computer zero'', but affectionately referred to as tixo (pronounced "tix oh"), was an early fully transistorized computer and contained a then-huge 64Kilo-, K of 18-bit words of magnetic-core memory. C ...

. Olsen was an engineer who had been working at

MIT Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

on the TX-2 project. Olsen's most important connection to

Project Whirlwind Whirlwind I was a Cold War-era vacuum-tube computer developed by the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory for the U.S. Navy. Operational in 1951, it was among the first digital electronic computers that operated in real-time for output, and the first ...

was his work on the ''Memory Test Computer'' (MTC), described as "a special purpose computer built to test core memory for the Whirlwind." Unlike the 18-bit TX-0, which was "designed to be a predecessor for a larger 36 bit machine, the TX-2," Whirlwind and the MTC used 16 bits.

Digital Equipment Corporation

In 1957, Olsen and an MIT colleague, Harlan Anderson, decided to start their own firm. They approached American Research and Development Corporation, an early venture capital firm, which had been founded by

Georges Doriot Georges Frédéric Doriot (September 24, 1899 – June 2, 1987) was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education. An émigré from France, Doriot became a professor of Industrial Management at H ...

, and founded

(DEC) after receiving $70,000 for a 70% share. In the 1960s, Olsen received patents for a saturable switch, a diode transformer gate circuit, an improved version of magnetic-core memory, and the line printer buffer. (The MIT professor Jay W. Forrester is generally credited with inventing the first practical

magnetic-core memory In computing, magnetic-core memory is a form of random-access memory. It predominated for roughly 20 years between 1955 and 1975, and is often just called core memory, or, informally, core. Core memory uses toroids (rings) of a hard magneti ...

). Olsen was known throughout his career for his management style and his fostering of engineering innovation. Olsen's valuing of innovation and technical excellence spawned and popularized techniques such as engineering

matrix management Matrix management is an organizational structure in which some individuals report to more than one supervisor or leader—relationships described as Solid line reporting, solid line or dotted line reporting, also understood in context of vertical, ...

, that are broadly employed today throughout many industries. Olsen valued humility, driving an economy car and keeping a simple office in an old mill building. He also was an accomplished pilot and flew his own plane. In 1977, referring to computers used in home automation at the dawn of the home computer era, Olsen is quoted as saying "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." Olsen admitted to making the remark, even though he says his words were taken out of context and he was referring to computers set up to control houses, not PCs. According to

Snopes.com ''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...

, "the out-of-context misinterpretation of Olsen's comments is considered much more amusing and entertaining than what he really meant, so that is the version that has been promulgated for decades now". In 1986,

Fortune Magazine ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...

named Olsen "America's most successful entrepreneur", and the same year he received the IEEE Engineering Leadership Recognition Award. Olsen was the subject of a 1988 biography, '' The Ultimate Entrepreneur: The Story of Ken Olsen and Digital Equipment Corporation'' written by Glenn Rifkin and George Harrar. In 1993, the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

awarded Olsen their IEEE Founders Medal. He was inducted as a Fellow of the

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the Digital Revolution, computing revolution and its impact ...

in 1996. He was awarded the Vermilye Medal in 1980. He was inducted as an Honorary Member of UPE (the International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Sciences) on October 8, 1975. In 2011, he was listed at #6 on the

MIT150 The MIT150 is a list published by the Boston Globe, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2011, listing 150 of the most significant innovators, inventions or ideas from MIT, its alumni, faculty, ...

list of the top 150 innovators and ideas from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

for his work on the

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a type of general-purpose computer mostly developed from the mid-1960s, built significantly smaller and sold at a much lower price than mainframe computers . By 21st century-standards however, a mini is ...

Later career history

Commencing in 1987, Olsen in public appearances described UNIX as "

snake oil Snake oil is a term used to describe False advertising, deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless ...

". Some believed he was making a general characterization of UNIX, while others believed he was specifically referring to its marketing exaggerating its benefits. While Olsen believed VMS was a better solution for DEC customers and often talked of the strengths of the system, he did approve and encourage an internal effort to produce a native BSD-based

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

product on the

VAX VAX (an acronym for virtual address extension) is a series of computers featuring a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) and virtual memory that was developed and sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 20th century. The V ...

line of computers called

Ultrix Ultrix (officially all-caps ULTRIX) is the brand name of Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) discontinued native Unix operating systems for the PDP-11, VAX, MicroVAX and DECstations. History The initial development of Unix occurred on DEC eq ...

. However, this line never got enthusiastic comprehensive support at DEC. Olsen was forced to retire from DEC, stepping down as president in 1992. He subsequently became the chairman of Advanced Modular Solutions. Olsen was also a major contributor to The Family, a religious and political organization. Olsen was a trustee of Gordon College in

Wenham, Massachusetts Wenham () is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,979 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town of Wenham was settled in 1635 and incorporated in 164 ...

. There, the Ken Olsen Science Center was named after him in 2006, and dedicated on 27 September 2008. Its lobby features a ''Digital Loggia of Technology'', documenting Digital's technology and history, and an interactive kiosk to which former employees have submitted their stories.

Death

Olsen died while in

hospice care Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

on February 6, 2011, aged 84. Gordon College, where he was a trustee and board member, announced his death, but did not reveal the cause. His family also did not comment on any details surrounding his death.

Awards

* 1993:

in 1993 awarded Olsen the IEEE Founders Medal. * 1996: The

in 1996 named Olsen a Museum Fellow "for his introduction of the minicomputer and co-founding of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)." * 1999: Olsen was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

References

External links

1988 Transcript of an Oral History Interview with Ken Olsen

Ken Olsen
New England Economic Adventure

Mass High Tech

Network World
DEC : The mistakes that led to its downfall
Birbeck College, University of London

Archives and records

Kenneth H. Olsen Collection
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Ken 1926 births 2011 deaths Businesspeople from Bridgeport, Connecticut Digital Equipment Corporation people Computer hardware engineers MIT School of Engineering alumni National Medal of Technology recipients American computer businesspeople American people of Norwegian descent MIT Lincoln Laboratory people 20th-century American businesspeople Members of the American Philosophical Society