Case School: The Evolving History

History of Computing At Case

Computing Center

Text authored by Frank Merat, Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering


According to Prof. Fred Way III's 1983 article in Case Alumnus magazine, computing at Case began in 1945 in the Math department when Prof. Orley Brown established a computing lab on the fourth floor of Case Main.  The lab contained an early analog computing machine called a Henrici Harmonic analyzer.


The computing laboratory went digital in 1950 by acquiring an IBM 602 Calculating Punch.  This was a four function electromechanical calculator.  Data was read in on punched cards and results punched on the same cards as they exited the machine.  Operations were programmed using a plugboard very similar to the later digital electronics classes. 

The computing laboratory was moved to the fourth floor of the old Chemical Laboratory in 1956. 


The modern era of digital computing at Case began in 1956 with the rental of an IBM 650 and the gift of a Univac I from Sperry-Rand arranged by Case President T. Keith Glennan.  The UNIVAC came with fellowships, maintenance, and a colloquium series.  The Univac was placed on the first floor of the Quail Building which then became the location of the campus “Computing Center. The Case Computing Center was formally established in April, 1956 and dedicated 4/12/1958.

At the same time Frederick Way III, who became one of Case’s most memorable computer faculty was hired as an Instructor in Mathematics and Assistant Director of the Computing Center. Raymond Nelson became Director of the Computing Center.

The Univac and the IBM were used for administrative records, courses, and research projects; and faculty, staff and students modified and wrote software for the machine.


In 1959 The Systems Research Center was established by Professors Donald Eckman and Irving Lefkowitz with the help of a Ford Foundation grant to support Case activities in mathematical systems theory and information sciences.  The center acquired an EAI 580 hybrid computer for simulation of dynamic systems and later a GE 4060 for digital simulation and general computer support.

In 1960 the IBM 650 was replaced by a Burroughs B-220.  This machine was much used by students for research.  In fact, Donald Knuth dedicated Volume I of his famous “The Art of Programming” to the IBM 650. He developed the first the first sports analytics program for the Case basketball team on the IBM 650 and the first computer games (including tic-tac-toe) on the Burroughs B-220.

The Univac I was scrapped in 1962 and replaced by the famous Univac 1107.  It basically came with no software and Case faculty, staff and students wrote much of the software for it.  One of the big developments during this era was the remote interface for the Univac 1004 card reader/printer unit.  These proliferated around campus in places like the campus level of Crawford Hall and even in Yost Hall.  An astute observer would have seen the beginnings of distributed computing on campus.

There was a major gift in 1963 from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation to establish the Andrew R. Jennings Computing Center. It was established in memory of Martha Holden Jennings’ husband Andrew, who was European General Manager of IBM.  Her nephew Arthur S. Holden, Jr, class of 1935, was an officer in the Foundation and a close adviser to Martha. Many alumni remember punching cards on IBM card punches and submitting programs through the Univac 1004’s located around campus.

Case added computer hardware and software classes to its curriculum.  The class of 1972 came to campus and learned ALGOL in their freshman computing classes. 

In 1967 the university decided it needed more computing capacity and the university formed a computer company called Chi Corporation which purchased a Univac 1108 and operated it in the University Circle Research Center I, across Cedar Avenue from Emerson Gym.

At this time computers started to proliferate in teaching and research labs across the campus with less reliance upon only the Univac 1108.