Arnold Spielberg
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Arnold Meyer Spielberg (February 6, 1917 – August 25, 2020) was an American electrical engineer who was instrumental in contributions to "real-time data acquisition and recording that significantly contributed to the definition of modern feedback and control processes". For
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
he designed, with his colleague Charles Propster, the
GE-225 file:GE_210_advertisement.jpg, GE 210 advertisement from 1960 The GE-200 series was a family of small Mainframe computer, mainframe computers of the 1960s, built by General Electric (GE). GE marketing called the line ''Compatibles/200'' (GE-205/21 ...
mainframe computer in 1959. He cited as his greatest contribution the first computer-controlled "point of sale" cash register. His children include filmmaker
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
, screenwriter Anne Spielberg, and producer Nancy Spielberg.


Early life and career

Spielberg was born in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
on February 6, 1917. He was of
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
descent. His mother, Rebecca (née Chechick), was born in Sudylkiv,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
; his father, Samuel, was born in
Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...
, Ukraine. They later immigrated to the United States, meeting and eventually marrying in Cincinnati. From the age of nine, he began building radios. He scrounged parts from garbage cans to assemble his first crystal receiver. He grew up in Avondale, Cincinnati. Spielberg graduated from Hughes High School in 1934. In 1934, he worked in Cynthiana, Kentucky, for his cousin's Lerman Brothers department store. After training as a radio-operator/gunner for the Air Corps, his skills in the design of new airplane antennas elevated him to the position of Communications Chief in ''490th Bomb Squadron'', a B-25 Squadron in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. During the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, Spielberg lost between 16 and 20 relatives. Spielberg married concert pianist Leah Posner (1920–2017) in January 1945. After graduating from the
University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, he joined
RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
's Advanced Development Department in 1949, where he did early work on servo and guidance systems. In 1955, he joined General Electric's computer department in
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. In 1957, he and his family relocated to Phoenix, where he founded the G.E. Industrial Computer Department. He left G.E. in 1963, and the following year they moved to
Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (; ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franc ...
. In 1965, Arnold and Leah Spielberg divorced, and he moved with his son Steven to
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.


Moscow

In 1960, Spielberg traveled to Moscow as part of a delegation of electrical engineers from Phoenix. The trip coincided with an incident that became the subject of his son's 2015 film '' Bridge of Spies''. Steven Spielberg described the event his father experienced at the time:


Work

When RCA entered the computer field, Spielberg began doing early circuit designs implementing computer logic. Moving into systems design, he was responsible for the design of a tape-to-tape data sorter. He designed and patented the first electronic library system, implemented as an interrogation system for data stored on an array of magnetic tapes. Promoted to Manager of Advanced Product Development, he was given responsibility for development of a point-of-sale system. The system involved a central processing computer called Recorder Central with ten point-of-sale satellite units. The system had many of the capabilities of later point-of-sale systems, including error-checking, price lookup, calculation of sales tax and discounts, and credit verification. In 1957, Spielberg began working for General Electric, where he was instrumental in developing the GE-200 series of computers. The GE-225 was derived from the GE-312 and 412 process-control computers. Spielberg and Charles "Chuck" H. Propster had worked together at RCA on BIZMAC before designing the GE-225, which was introduced in 1960. Spielberg went on to work for Burroughs where he was the manager of the B4900 hardware. Spielberg retired in 1991 but continued consultation work for technology companies. He also worked with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, an organization founded by his son Steven.


Personal life and death

Spielberg had four children with his first wife Leah: son Steven and daughters
Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...
, Nancy, and Sue. He also had 14 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. His second wife, Bernice Colner, died in 2016. Spielberg died from natural causes at his home in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, on August 25, 2020, at the age of 103. Steven Spielberg's 2022 film '' The Fabelmans'' is a fictionalized account of his own childhood, and features Paul Dano as engineer Burt Fabelman, the father of the film's protagonist Sammy Fabelman.


Recognition

*
IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...
2006 Computer Pioneer Award


References


External links


Arnold Spielberg Talks About GE's First Digital Blockbuster
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spielberg, Arnold 1917 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American engineers American men centenarians American electrical engineers American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Engineers from Ohio People from Cincinnati Arnold University of Cincinnati alumni Jewish centenarians