Forrester's solution used tiny rings of ferrite material, each about the diameter of a pencil lead, strung on a grid of copper wires. Sending current through two intersecting wires simultaneously magnetized a specific ring in one direction for a "1" or the other for a "0." The coincident-current technique allowed a small number of wires to address millions of bits in three-dimensional arrays. His graduate student, William Papian, built the first prototype in October 1950, and the first full core memory bank went into Whirlwind on August 8th, 1953.
This demonstrated that the underlying tech worked, and Whirlwind subsequently became the prototype for the SAGE air defense network, which operated 23 computer-controlled radar installations across the United States and one in Canada, and remained operational into the 1980s.
While Forrester applied for the patent in 1951, it took five years for it to be granted, and a series of legal battles soon followed. RCA engineer Jan Rajchman had filed a similar application eight months earlier, and Harvard researcher An Wang had separately patented a different core memory technique that IBM purchased in 1955 for $500,000. Wang used the proceeds to expand Wang Laboratories.
IBM then spent years challenging Forrester's broader patent. MIT responded with forensic thoroughness, according to its archival records , tracing purchase orders, examining telephone bills and travel vouchers, and analyzing lab notebooks to establish Forrester's priority. RCA eventually withdrew its claims, and in 1964, IBM settled for $13 million, the largest patent payout in history at the time. Forrester personally received $1.5 million.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/jay-forrester-filed-the-first-practical-ram-patent-75-years-ago-this-week#main
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