One of the most consecutive departures in the history of Minnesota began with a typed two -page note with the object line, “emotional problems”.
Seymour Cray, the legendary designer of powerful computers of Control Data Corp., wrote the Missive on Valentine’s Day 1972 to his boss, Bill Norris, the founder of the company and an equal stature legend in the annals of American technology.
“Due to recent developments in the technical direction of control data, I think it is important and urgent that I present as clearly as possible my emotional attitude towards the company and the implications it has on our continuous relationship,” wrote Cry.
Involvement? Cray was looking forward to starting his own business.
Last week, around two dozen people who worked at Control Data met for their annual reunion lunch and paid a special tribute to Cry, which would have been 100 years last Sunday. His company, Cry Research, built the first world supercaluler and, with its first public call to public in 1975, helped relaunch the stock market from its levels this decade.
“I had enormous respect for the man and everything he did,” said Sam Slais, an engineer who helps Cry ‘conceptions.
Once, after Slais has found one of the errors of Cry, a nervous manager told Slais that he should take it directly with Cray. Before Slais finished describing the problem, Cry said to him: “Say no more. You’re right.”
Roger Norris, son of the founder of control data, Bill Norris, operates the shoulder of Dean Laurance, organizer of control data meetings, during a lunch in Bloomington on September 29. The annual meeting of control data employees focused on the 100th anniversary of Seymour Cry, a control designer of Control Data which founded Cry Research and designed the country’s first supercalculculculculculcul. (Evan Ramstad)
Dean Laurance was a mechanical engineer at Control Data when he was asked 60 years ago to organize a Christmas lunch for colleagues. Since then, he has organized the annual reunion and, of course, the participants today are in the 80s and 90s.
