Bruce Wesley Arden ( – ) 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 ( ...

. Arden enlisted in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

(1944-1946) as a Radar Technician Third Class in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak ( Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

. He graduated from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

with a BS(EE) in 1949 and started his computing career in 1950 with the wiring and programming of IBM's

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

(mechanical and electronic) Card Programmed Computer/Calculator at the Allison Division of General Motors. Next he spent a short period as a programmer for computations being done at the University of Michigan's

Willow Run Laboratory The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) was a research institute at Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 1972. The institute contributed to the development of remote sensing, radar, and holography. ERIM grew out of a military and env ...

using the

Standards Eastern Automatic Computer SEAC (''Standards Eastern Automatic Computer'' or ''Standards Electronic Automatic Computer'') was a first-generation electronic computer, built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and was initially called the ''National Bur ...

. He then became a research associate at the University of Michigan's Statistical Research Laboratory and later an associate director of the university's Computing Center after its establishment in 1959. While at Michigan he co-authored two compilers, GAT for the

IBM 650 The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962, and it was the firs ...

and

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for the IBM 704/709/7090, was involved in the design of the architecture and negotiations with IBM over the virtual memory features that would be included in what became the

IBM System/360 Model 67 IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM since 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s, IBM dominated the large computer market. Current mainframe computers in IBM's line of business computers are developments of the basic design of th ...

computer, and in the initial design of the

Michigan Terminal System The Michigan Terminal System (MTS) is one of the first time-sharing computer operating systems.. Developed in 1967 at the University of Michigan for use on IBM S/360-67, S/370 and compatible mainframe computers, it was developed and used by a con ...

(MTS)

time-sharing In computing, time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users at the same time by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking.DEC Timesharing (1965), by Peter Clark, The DEC Professional, Volume 1, Number 1 Its emergence ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

.Computing at the University of Michigan: The Early Years through the 1960s
Norman R. Scott. U-M Vice President for Research Geoffrey Norman, writing in 1976, gave special credit to a triumvirate of Michigan computer specialists who contributed greatly to the future of computing at Michigan and in the nation as a whole. "Bartels, Arden, and Westervelt," Norman has said, "were a team that we took great care should not be broken up or induced to leave the University. Westervelt, the hardware expert, Arden, brilliant in software and logic, and Bartels orchestrating their progress-these three put together a superb timesharing computer system. The university and their faculty colleagues owe them much." Arden's increasing interest in academic computer science and engineering motivated him to complete a doctoral program in electrical engineering in 1965. He was subsequently a professor in, and ultimately chairman of, the Computer and Communication Sciences department at Michigan. In 1973 he accepted a professorship at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

and chaired the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 1986, then Princeton's Alexander Doty Professor of Engineering, he went to the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

as its dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. In the three years preceding the addition of "Emeritus" to his academic title (William May Professor of Engineering) in 1995, he also served as Rochester's vice provost for telecommunications and computing. During his academic career, Arden wrote two books on numerical computation and edited another on computer science and engineering research. He wrote many papers in the areas of compilers, operating systems, computer logic and networks.ACM Author Portal for Bruce W. Arden
/ref> In addition, he supervised many students, both undergraduate and graduate, in their studies of the various aspects of computing, and he served as a consultant to government agencies and several major computer companies at various times during those years. He retired in 1995 and lived in Michigan and Maine.

References

External links

Tom Rickey, University of Rochester, November 23, 1992.
Video (46 minutes), Bruce W. Arden Collection
(AFC/2001/001/97393), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
"Remembering Bruce Arden: U-M faculty member and past chair of Computer and Communication Sciences department"
''Division News'', 10 January 2022, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan.
"Bruce Arden, former dean of engineering, dies at 94"
''Newscenter'', 10 January 2022, University of Rochester. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Bruce W. 1927 births 2021 deaths American computer scientists University of Michigan faculty University of Rochester faculty Princeton University faculty People from Ann Arbor, Michigan Scientists from Minneapolis Engineers from Minnesota Purdue University alumni