<
person> The founder of
Cray Research and designer of
several of their
supercomputers.
Cray has been a charismatic yet somewhat reclusive figure. He
began
Cray Research in Minnesota in 1972. In 1988,
Cray moved
his
Cray-3 project to Colorado Springs. The next year,
Cray
Research spun it off to create
Cray Computer. In 1989,
Cray
left
Cray Research and started
Cray Computer Corporation in Colorado
Springs.
His quest to build a faster computer using new-generation
materials failed in 1995, and his bankruptcy cost half a
billion dollars and more than 400 jobs. The company was
unable to raise $20 million needed to finish the
Cray-4 and
filed for bankruptcy in March 1995.
In the summer of 1996,
Cray started a Colorado Springs-based
company called
SRC Computers, Inc. "We think we'll build
computers, but who knows what kind or how,"
Cray said at the
time. "We'll talk it over and see if we can come up with a
plan."
On 1996-09-22, aged 70,
Cray broke his neck in a car
accident. Surgery for massive head injuries and swelling of
the brain leaving him in a critical and unstable condition.
(1997-03-02)