Carl Hammer

Born May 10, 1914, Chicago, Ill.; educator and lecturer who conveyed the exciting message of computers and their mind-boggling future applications early on to audiences worldwide; long-time seeker of the solution to the Beale Cypher.

Education: PhD, magna cum laude, University of Munich, 1938.

Professional Experience: mathematician and statistician, Texas Company Research Laboratories, Beacon, N.Y., 1938-1943; statistician, Pillsbury Mills, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1944-1947; chairman, Division of Technical Education, Walter Hervey Junior College, New York, N.Y., 1947-1951; senior staff engineer, Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., 1951-1955; director, Univac European Computing Center (Univac I), Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 1955-1957; staff consultant and acting manager, Programming and Analysis Department (UDOF'F, ELECOM 125, IBM-709), Sylvania Electronic Products, Inc., Needham, Mass., 1957-1959; senior engineering scientist, Surface Communications Division, Radio Corporation of America, New York, N.Y., 1959-1961; manager, Scientific Computer Applications, RCA Computer Division, Washington, D.C., 1961-1963; director, Computer Sciences, Sperry Univac, Washington, D.C., 1963-1981; retired October 1981.

Honors and Awards: member, Scientific Research Society of America, 1954; National Defense Executive Reserve, 1970; member, New York Academy of Sciences, 1955, fellow, 1976; fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1969; fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, 1986; Chester Morrill Memorial Award, Association for Systems Management, 1972; lifetime member and Computer Sciences Man-of-the-Year Award, Data Processing Management Association, 1973; fellow, World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics, 1978; ACM Distinguished Service Award, 1979; Distinguished Service Award, American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1981; Lifetime Achievement Award, Federation of Government Information Processing Councils, 1986.

During his years, Hammer has given talks and made presentations in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia (the Soviet Union), Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, in addition to all of the United States.

QUOTATION

"Government is as guilty as industry in the retention of old systems."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biographical

Donlan, Hugh, "At the Top," INSIDE DPMA, Vol. 29, No. 9, Dec. 1991, p. 5.

McGraw, Tim, "Computer Expert Stresses ADP Role in the Office," Government Computer News, Vol. 7, No. 1, Jan. 1988, p. 7.

Meyers, Robert, "Spotlight on Dr. Carl Hammer," Government Computer News, Vol. 3, No. I, Jan. 1984, pp. 1, 41-42.

Ross, James, "An Interview with Carl Hammer," Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., Apr. 15, 1983.

Significant Publications

Hammer, Carl, "Univac Programming with Compilers," Proc. First Int'l Congress on Cybernetics, Namur, Belgium, 1956.

Hammer, Carl, and F. Ikle, "Intercity Telephone and Airline Traffic Related to Distance and the Propensity to Interact," Sociometry, Dec. 1957.

Hammer, Carl, "Computers and Simulation," Cybernetica, Vol. 4, No, 4, 1961, pp. 204-209.

Hammer, Carl, "Detection of Synchronization in Pulse Trains," Symposium on Time Series and Sequence Analysis, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif., April 26, 1963.

Hammer, Carl, "Autoregressive Data Analysis, Fortran IV, Univac 1107Statistical Programs for High Speed Computers," Technometrics, Vol. 6, No. 2, May 1964, p. 235.

Hammer, Carl, "Statistical Validation of Mathematical Computer Routines," AFIPS Conf. Proc., Vol. 30, Apr. 1967, pp. 331-333.

Hammer, Carl, "Signature Simulation and Certain Cryptographic Codes, Comm. ACM, Vol. 14, No. I Jan. 1971, pp. 3-14.

Hammer, Carl, "Second Order Homophonic Ciphers," Cryptologia, Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan. 1988, pp. 11-20.

Hammer, Carl, "Is Today's Office Receiving Full Value from Its Computers?" Information & Management, Vol. 15, No. 1, Aug. 1988, pp. 15-24.

UPDATES

Carl Hammer died in 2004 (MRW, 2012), portrait changed (MRW, 2012).