Rural Matters

Jay W. Forrester is a pioneer American computer engineer and systems theorist. He was born 14 July 1918, on a cattle ranch in Climax, Nebraska, twenty miles from the nearest town of Anselmo. The ranch had been homesteaded by his parents, Duke and Ethel Forrester.

Forrester was educated at MIT in electrical engineering, where he spent his entire career. During the 1940s and early 50s, he did research in electrical and computer engineering, heading the Whirlwind project and developing the "Multi-coordinate digitally information storage device" (coincident-current system), the forerunner of today's RAM. He is believed to have created the first animation in the history of computer graphics, a "jumping ball" on an oscilloscope.