Thomas H. Morrin

Thomas H. Morrin was an engineer and the director of engineering at SRI International from 1948 to 1963.

For other people named Morrin, see Morrin (disambiguation).
Thomas H. Morrin
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
InstitutionsUnited States Navy
Office of Naval Research
SRI International

Career

Morrin had an extensive naval career during World War II as a naval engineer, and later worked at the Office of Naval Research.[1][2]

Morrin was recruited to SRI international in 1948, where he was the first member and head of their Engineering Group and recruited many prominent engineers, particularly from the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory; one of these was Jerre Noe, who would go on to lead SRI's Information Sciences and Engineering Division.[2] He played a key role in bringing Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting (ERMA) to SRI, and had significant involvement in the ERMA project itself.[3][4][5]

Morrin was later involved in the development of a large contract with the United States Army dedicated to continuous, broad technical support, the Combat Development Experimentation Center (CDEC). In Spring 1958, General Fred Gibb landed his helicopter in SRI's parking lot, met with SRI's president (then E. Finley Carter) and demanded that SRI submit a sole source bid to the existing CDEC in Fort Ord, California; SRI's $1 million bid was accepted and the contract ran for eight years, until September 1966.[6]

He was also instrumental in bringing in work from Southern Pacific, including William K. MacCurdy's Hydra-Cushion and a grade crossing computer.[2] Morrin left SRI in 1963.[2]

Awards and honors

In 1960, Morrin was named an IEEE Fellow.[7] In 1999, he was named to SRI's Hall of Fame.[2]

References
  1. Nielson, p. B-4
  2. "Alumni Hall of Fame 1999: Thomas H. Morrin". SRI International. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
  3. Nielson, p. 2-2
  4. Fisher, Amy Weaver; McKenney, James L. (1993). "The Development of the ERMA Banking System: Lessons from History". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. IEEE. 15 (1): 44–57. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.175.6002. doi:10.1109/85.194091.
  5. James L. McKenney, Duncan C. Copeland, Richard O. Mason (1995-01-01). Waves of Change: Business Evolution Through Information Technology. Harvard Business Press. p. 44.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  6. Nielson, p. 8-8 - 8-9
  7. "Awards + Honors". SRI International. Retrieved 2012-07-22.

Works cited
  • Nielson, Donald (2006). A Heritage of Innovation: SRI's First Half Century. Menlo Park, California: SRI International. ISBN 978-0-9745208-1-0.
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