Robert Marco Tomasulo (October 31, 1934 – April 3, 2008) was a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

, and the inventor of the

Tomasulo algorithm Tomasulo's algorithm is a computer architecture hardware algorithm for dynamic scheduling of instructions that allows out-of-order execution and enables more efficient use of multiple execution units. It was developed by Robert Tomasulo at IBM in 1 ...

. Tomasulo was the recipient of the 1997

Eckert–Mauchly Award The Eckert–Mauchly Award recognizes contributions to digital systems and computer architecture. It is known as the computer architecture community’s most prestigious award. First awarded in 1979, it was named for John Presper Eckert and Joh ...

" r the ingenious Tomasulo algorithm, which enabled out-of-order execution processors to be implemented." Robert Tomasulo attended Regis High School in New York City. He graduated from

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

and then earned an engineering degree from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. In 1956 he joined IBM research. After nearly a decade gaining broad experience in a variety of technical and leadership roles, he transitioned to mainframe development, including the

IBM System/360 Model 91 The IBM System/360 Model 91 was announced in 1964 as a competitor to the CDC 6600. Functionally, the Model 91 ran like any other large-scale System/360, but the internal organization was the most advanced of the System/360 line, and it was the ...

and its successors. Following his 25-year career with IBM, Bob worked on an incubator project at

Storage Technology Corporation Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK, earlier STC) was a data storage technology company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. New products include data retention systems, which it calls "information lifecycle management" (ILM). It ...

to develop the first

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...

-based mainframe system; co-founded NetFrame, a mid-80s startup to develop one of the earliest microprocessor-based server systems; and worked as a consultant on processor architecture and microarchitecture for Amdahl Consulting. On January 30, 2008, Tomasulo spoke at the

University of Michigan College of Engineering The University of Michigan College of Engineering (branded as Michigan Engineering) is the engineering school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. History The college was founded in 1854, with co ...

about his career and the history and development of

out-of-order execution In computer engineering, out-of-order execution (or more formally dynamic execution) is an instruction scheduling paradigm used in high-performance central processing units to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted. In t ...

Notes

External links

Lecture, 2008Personal Profile on the computer.org
1934 births 2008 deaths American computer scientists Regis High School (New York City) alumni Manhattan College alumni Syracuse University alumni {{compu-scientist-stub