Morton M. Astrahan

Biography

Morton M. Astrahan (IRE Student, 1945; Associate, 1950; Member, 1951; and Senior Member, 1957) was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 5 December 1924. He received the B.S.E.E. degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in 1945; the M.S.E.E. degree from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, in 1946; and the Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University, in 1949.

Astrahan joined the IBM Corporation, Endicott, New York, in 1949. In 1951 and 1952, he participated in the planning and logical design of the 701 Computer at Poughkeepsie, New York. From 1953 to 1955, he was in charge of the IBM Systems Planning on the AN/FSQ-7 Computer for the SAGE Air Defense System. Astrahan also directed input-output development and prototype testing for the AN/FSQ-7. In 1956, he moved to the San Jose Research Laboratory of IBM in California where he was Manager of systems research and responsible for applications and specifications of experimental research devices for future data-processing systems, 1956 to 1958. Then he joined the San Jose Laboratory of the newly formed IBM Advanced Systems Development Division in 1959, and in 1962 he held the post of Assistant Manager of a systems development project.

Astrahan was the first Chairman of the IRE Professional Group on Electronic Computers, in 1952 and 1953. He also served as Chairman of the National Joint Computer Committee from 1956 to 1958, and Chairman of the NJCC delegation visiting computers in the USSR, in 1959. In 1962, he served as Chairman of the Finance Committee for the American Federation of Information Processing Societies. He was a Senior Member of the IRE, a Member of the AIEE, and a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi.