Reynold B. Johnson (July 16, 1906September 15, 1998) was an American inventor and computer pioneer. A long-time employee of
IBM, Johnson is said to be the "father" of the
hard disk drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...
. Other inventions include automatic test scoring equipment and the
videocassette
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasset ...
tape.
Biography
A native of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, born to Swedish immigrants, Johnson graduated from
Minnehaha Academy
Minnehaha Academy (often abbreviated MA) is a Christian private school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, for students in preschool through 12th grade, and established in 1913. There are two campuses, the South Campus for preschool thr ...
(1925) and went on to graduate from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
(BS in Educational Administration, 1929).
In the early 1930s, Johnson, then a high school science teacher in
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, invented an electronic test scoring machine that sensed pencil marks on a standardized form based on the multiple choice test created by Columbia University professor
Benjamin D. Wood.
IBM bought the rights to Reynold's invention and hired him as an engineer to work in their
Endicott, New York
Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the End ...
laboratory. The test scoring machine was sold as the
IBM 805 Test Scoring Machine
The IBM 805 Test Scoring Machine was a educational machine sold by IBM beginning in 1937. The device scored answer sheets marked with special "mark sense" pencils. The machine was developed from a prototype developed by Reynold Johnson, a school ...
beginning in 1937.
One of Reynold's early assignments was to develop technology that allowed cards marked with pencil marks to be converted into
punched card
A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
s. That allowed punched card data to be recorded by people using only a pencil. That "
mark sense" technology was widely used by businesses in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. For example, the Bell System used mark sense technology to record long-distance calls, and utility companies used it to record meter readings. The Federal Government used it under the name "
electrographic" technology.
In 1952, IBM sent Johnson to
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
, to set up and manage its West Coast Laboratory. In 1956, a research team led by Johnson developed disk data storage technology, which IBM released as the
IBM 305 RAMAC
The IBM 305 RAMAC was the first commercial computer that used a moving-head hard disk drive (magnetic disk storage) for secondary storage. The system was publicly announced on September 14, 1956, . Although the first disk drive was crude by modern standards, it launched a multibillion-dollar industry.
Johnson was working with Sony on another project when he developed the prototype for a half-inch videocassette tape. Lou Stevens noted that "Sony was using wider tape on reels. He cut the tape to a half an inch, and put it in a cartridge. The larger tapes weren't easy enough for kids to use, and his interest was in education and building a video textbook for kids."
Johnson retired from IBM in 1971. He obtained more than 90 patents. After his retirement, he developed the