Roy Nutt (October 20, 1930 – June 14, 1990) was an American businessman and computer pioneer. He was a co-creator of Fortran As corrected June 22, 1990. and co-founded

Computer Sciences Corporation Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Ente ...

Fortran

Born in

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

, Roy Nutt grew up in

Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is ...

. He graduated in 1953 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from Trinity College in

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. A pioneer in the fledgling software industry of the 1950s, Roy Nutt was a major contributor in the creation of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

's FORTRAN, the first high-level scientific and engineering programming language. Part of the FORTRAN project's team, he was responsible for developing the computer command FORMAT, which controls data for input and output. Nutt also created an assembler for the IBM 704 mainframe that is today seen as the most successful individual programming effort of the 1950s.

During this period, Roy Nutt met Fletcher Jones when he joined with nineteen others from the aerospace industry to form the influential IBM user group known as SHARE which developed

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

, one of the first operating systems. Jones, as secretary of the group, became its national spokesman and their working relationship would later result in a business partnership.

CSC

Roy Nutt had become a widely respected

computer programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...

for United Aircraft Corp. in

East Hartford, Connecticut East Hartford is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 51,045 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River, directly across from ...

, where he developed the Symbolic Assembly Program for the IBM 704. He left in 1959 to team up with Fletcher Jones to establish

(CSC) in Los Angeles. Jones, who ran the business and marketing end of things, obtained a contract from

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

that gave their business profitability and respect within the industry. Nutt was responsible for building Honeywell the first commercial

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

(

FACT A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

) and oversaw the company's major 1961 entry into the space industry when they obtained a contract to support the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

's Flight Operations Facility. Within four years of its founding, CSC became the largest software company in the United States. Taking their business Public company with an IPO listed on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

. By the end of the 1960s, CSC was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

and had operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, (Germany), Italy, and in

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Later years

In later years, Roy Nutt used some of his wealth to benefit Trinity College. He set up an endowment fund for a professorship and donated money to assist in the construction of the college's engineering and computing building. Trinity College honored him in May 2012 when they renamed the building the Roy Nutt Mathematics, Engineering & Computer Science Center. Roy Nutt died of lung cancer in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington on June 14, 1990.

References

External links

Computer Sciences Corporation website with company history

Trinity College ME & CSC dedication program containing a short biography of Roy Nutt (by Micah Nutt)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutt, Roy 1930 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists American computer businesspeople Businesspeople in software Fortran People from Glastonbury, Connecticut People from Marlborough, Massachusetts Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni Deaths from lung cancer in Washington (state)

Fortran

SHARE

CSC

Later years

References

Further reading

External links