Seymour Cray


Seymour Cray

(person)The founder of Cray Research and designer ofseveral of their supercomputers.

Cray has been a charismatic yet somewhat reclusive figure. Hebegan Cray Research in Minnesota in 1972. In 1988, Cray movedhis Cray-3 project to Colorado Springs. The next year, CrayResearch spun it off to create Cray Computer. In 1989, Crayleft Cray Research and started Cray Computer Corporation in ColoradoSprings.

His quest to build a faster computer using new-generationmaterials failed in 1995, and his bankruptcy cost half abillion dollars and more than 400 jobs. The company wasunable to raise $20 million needed to finish the Cray-4 andfiled for bankruptcy in March 1995.

In the summer of 1996, Cray started a Colorado Springs-basedcompany called SRC Computers, Inc. "We think we'll buildcomputers, but who knows what kind or how," Cray said at thetime. "We'll talk it over and see if we can come up with aplan."

On 1996-09-22, aged 70, Cray broke his neck in a caraccident. Surgery for massive head injuries and swelling ofthe brain leaving him in a critical and unstable condition.