Oral History of Robert "Bob" Brayton
1,747 views · Published 24 October 2014 · 1:50:36 · Indexed 28 October 2026
Channel: Computer History Museum · 2014 · Science & Technology
Interviewed by Douglas Fairbairn on March 20, 2014, in Mountain View, California, X7128.2014 © Computer History Museum Bob grew up in Ames, Iowa, home of Iowa State University. Living amongst all those professors and the son of a high school teacher, he understood the value of education. He entered Iowa State as an aeronautical engineer major, but eventually ended up focusing on electrical engineering. Upon graduation, he worked for Sperry helping to develop a computer for an ICBM. Then after six months to fulfill his ROTC commitment, he headed back to school. He entered MIT in 1957, majoring in math. Within the math department, he was introduced to the world of computing, writing a Lisp compiler as well as other activities. Upon earning his PhD, Brayton went to work at IBM Yorktown Heights Research Center, where he was able to continue to pursue his dual interests in math and computers. His work on developing new ways to mathematically represent electronic circuits at first led to improved circuit simulation tools. From there, Bob moved onto logic circuits and became interested in determining what logic functions could be mapped onto a particular set of logic. This eventually led to cooperation with UC Berkeley on two-level logic minimization. Several years later he left IBM and became a professor at UC Berkeley. His work at Berkeley was heavily focused on formal logic verification. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102746880 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Catalog Number: 102746879 Lot Number: X7128.2014
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