Heinz Zemanek
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Heinz Zemanek (born January 1, 1920 in Vienna) is an Austrian computer pioneer, known primarily for building the first computer working entirely on transistors, called Mailüfterl, in 1955. The name (Austrian German for 'May Breeze') is a word play on Whirlwind, a famous computer developed by the MIT between 1945 and 1951.
Additionally, he was involved in creating the formal definition of the programming language PL/I. In 1954, he supervised a thesis, in the course of which the LRR1 was developed, probably the only logical machine ever built in Austria.
He still is active as a lecturer at the Vienna University of Technology, which also has a lecture hall named after him, giving two lectures every year. He is a long-time member of the International Federation for Information Processing, and was its president from 1971 to 1974.
The Heinz-Zemanek-Preis, an award for extraordinary accomplishments in the field of computer science, was named after him. He was himself awarded with the Kardinal-Innitzer-Preis, a different Austrian award, for his life's accomplishments in 2003. In 2005, he was awarded the Austrian honorary cross for arts and science, first class.
Heinz Zemanek was International Commissioner of the Pfadfinder Österreichs from 1949 to 1954.
[edit] Literature
- Kalender und Chronologie. München : Oldenbourg, 1990
- Weltmacht Computer. Esslingen : Bechtle, 1991
- Das geistige Umfeld der Informationstechnik. Berlin : Springer, 1992
- Unser Kalender. Wien : Wiener Kath. Akad., 1995
- Vom Mailüfterl zum Internet. Wien : Picus-Verlag, 2001
- Anekdoten zur Informatik. Innsbruck : Studien-Verlag, 2001
