Samuel Nathan Alexander

Developer of the SEAC computer, the first fully functional electronic computer with an internal program memory (stored program) in the United States, Alexander was an American computer scientist. He also worked as an engineer in the laboratory of the Simplex Wire and Cable Company, as a physicist in the development of electronic instruments for the U.S. Navy, and was a Senior Project Engineer at the Bendix Aviation Corporation. Born in Wharton, Texas, he studied at the University of Oklahoma, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1931, and his Master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1933.

In 1946 he joined the Data Processing Department of the National Bureau of Standards, where he served as Director of the Electronic Computer Laboratory until 1954. He then became head of the Data Processing Systems Division until 1964, and head of the Information Technology Division until his death in 1967.

While at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington, D.C., Alexander developed the SEAC computer (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer). The SEAC was the first fully functional electronic computer with an internal program memory (stored program) in the United States. It was also the first computer with pure solid-state logic (first 10,500, then 16,000 germanium diodes), alongside 747 and later 1,600 vacuum tubes. Originally named the National Bureau of Standards Interim Computer, it was one of the many mainframes developed in universities, laboratories, and government organizations at that time.

The computer was operated for 14 years and was originally intended for training purposes by government agencies. The designs were intended only as an interim measure, until the industry could provide better computers — specifically the UNIVAC, which Alexander was also involved in designing alongside Ralph J. Slutz, the main architect. He wrote specifications for and supervised the procurement of the UNIVAC computer.

Alexander was also the designer of the DYSEAC NBS in 1954, a successor to the SEAC, which was built for the U.S. Signal Corps and could be transported in a truck for mobile battlefield use. In addition, he served as a government consultant in the United States, as well as in Sweden in 1956 and in India in 1957. He was a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences.

He died in Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1967, the year he received the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award. In 1981 he was posthumously awarded the Computer Pioneer Award of the IEEE Computer Society. The Samuel N. Alexander Doctoral Fellowship is named for him and is awarded annually to a deserving student in order to assist and promote doctoral research in the utilization and development of computers and computer science.