Howard H. Aiken

thumb|right|Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats. Howard Hathaway Aiken (March 8, 1900 – March 14, 1973) was a pioneer in computing, being the primary engineer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I computer. Sourced The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself. "Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine" (1937) Originally one thought that if there were a half dozen large computers in this country, hidden away in research laboratories, this would take care of all requirements we had throughout the country. 1952. Quoted in I. Bernard Cohen: Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer. 1999. MIT Press. p. 292. And I. Bernard Cohen: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20.3 pp. 27–33. (1998) Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats. As quoted in Portraits in Silicon (1987) by Robert Slater Variant: Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. As quoted in A Computer Science Reader : Selections from Abacus (1988) by Eric A. Weiss, p. 404 External links Profile at the University of St. Andrews Father of the computer age Category:Academics from the United States Category:Computer scientists from the United States Category:Electrical engineers Category:Engineers from the United States Category:Physicists from the United States Category:1900 births Category:1973 deaths Category:People from New Jersey Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Harvard University faculty