The Cryotron Files : The Strange Death of a Pioneering Cold War Computer Scientist

The true life story of Dudley Buck, an American Cold War hero whose pioneering work with computer chips placed him firmly in the sights of the KGB.;Intro; Title Page; Dedication; Contents; 1: Project Lightning; 2: Santa Barbara Sound Laboratories; 3: The V-12 Program; 4: Seesaw; 5: Operation Rusty; 6: Project Whirlwind; 7: Memory; 8: Forging Bonds; 9: Project Nomad; 10: Two Small Wires; 11: The Cryotron; 12: Lab Rats; 13: The Missile Gap; 14: Fame; 15: The Post-Sputnik Effect; 16: A Reciprocal Arrangement; 17: The Missile Men; 18: The Russians have Landed; 19: A Package; 20: The Extra Pieces of the Puzzle; 21: Postscript; List of Interviewee; Chapter Notes; Acknowledgments; Index; Plates; Copyright. Dr. Dudley Allen Buck was a brilliant young scientist on the cusp of fame and fortune when he died suddenly on May 21, 1959, at the age of 32. He was the star professor at MIT and had done stints with the NSA and Lockheed. His latest invention, the Cryotron—an early form of the microchip—was attracting attention all over the globe. It was thought that the Cryotron could guide a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles to their targets. Four weeks before Dudley Buck’s death, he was visited by a group of the Soviet Union’s top computer experts. On the same day that he died from a mysterious sudden bout of pneumonia, his close colleague, Dr. Louis Ridenour, was also found dead from similar causes. Two top American computer scientists had unexpectedly died young on the same day. Were their deaths linked? Two years old when his father died, Douglas Buck was never satisfied with the explanation of his father’s death and has spent more than 20 years investigating it, acquiring his father’s lab books, diaries, correspondence, research papers and patent filings. Armed with this research, award-winning journalist Iain Dey tells, with compelling immediacy, the story of Dudley Buck’s life and groundbreaking work, starting from his unconventional beginnings in California through to his untimely death and beyond. The Cryotron Files is at once the gripping narrative history of America and its computer scientists during the Cold War and the dramatic personal story of rising MIT star Dudley Buck in the high-stakes days of spies, supercomputers, and the space and nuclear race. The "fascinating [and] informative" biography of a pioneering American computer scientist and his mysterious death during the Cold War ( The Scotsman , UK). MIT professor Dudley Allen Buck was a brilliant young scientist on the cusp of fame and fortune when he died of mysterious causes in 1959. His latest invention, the Cryotron, was an early form of microchip that would have greatly advance ballistic missile technology. Shortly before Dudley's death, he was visited by a group of Soviet computer experts. On the day that he died from a sudden bout of pneumonia, a close colleague of his was also found dead from similar causes. Some wonder if their deaths were linked. Dudley's son Douglas was never satisfied with the explanation of his father's death. He's spent more than twenty years investigating it, acquiring his father's lab books, diaries, correspondence, research papers and patent filings. Armed with this research, Douglas and award-winning journalist Iain Dey tell the story of Dudley's life and groundbreaking work. The Cryotron Files is at once a gripping history of America's Cold War era computer scientists, the dramatic personal story of Dudley Buck, and an eye-opening investigation into his mysterious death. Dudley Buck was a brilliant scientist who developed or invented several early pieces of now-common technology (e.g. microchips, flash drives)in the 1950s. Like his Nobel-winning colleagues, he might have benefitted from them greatly, had he not died aged 32 of a mysterious heart attack, just after a high-profile group of Soviet scientists visited his lab on a cold war-era tour of the USA. Buck was not the only scientist to expire that day – his colleague Dr Ridenour, chief scientist at Lockheed, also died of an unexplained heart attack. Both deaths are consistent with KGB contact-poison hits. Recently discovered papers reveal Buck's extensive career in clandestine government work, that had led to his contact with Russia's top computer scientists. His work was filed away and rediscovered in the 1980s when it was used in research projects by NASA. A fascinating narrative history of Cold War era computer and tech research, combining social historical elements to produce a brilliant portrait of America in the mid-20th century. The riveting true story of Dudley Buck—American scientist, government agent, and cold war hero—whose pioneering work with computer chips placed him firmly in the sights of the KGB Dr. Dudley Allen Buck was a brilliant young scientist on the cusp of fame and fortune when he died suddenly on May 21, 1959, at the age of 32. He was the star professor at MIT and had done stints with the NSA and Lockheed. His latest invention, the Cryotron—an early form of the microchip—was attracting attention all over the globe. It was thought that the Cryotron could guide a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles to their targets. Four weeks before Dudley Buck's death, he was visited by a group of the Soviet Union's top computer experts. On the same day that he died from a mysterious sudden bout of pneumonia, his close colleague, Dr. Louis Ridenour, was also found dead from similar causes. Two top American computer scientists had unexpectedly... BIO015000, POL036000, HIS036060, TRU001000