Marvin Stein (computer scientist)
{{short description|Jewish American mathematician}}
Marvin Stein (1924-2015) was an American mathematician and computer scientist, and the "father of computer science" at the University of Minnesota.{{cite web
| url =http://uawards.umn.edu/uawards/recipients/paos/2009rec.html
| title =2009 President's Award for Outstanding Service Recipients
| date =2009
| website =University Awards & Honors
| publisher =University of Minnesota
| access-date =2017-06-03
}}
Early life
Marvin Stein was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1924 to Russian-Jewish immigrants. The family later moved to Los Angeles, California to treat Stein's mother's tuberculosis.{{cite news
| last =
| first =
| title =Marvin L. Stein Obituary
| newspaper =Star Tribune
| location =
| pages =
| language =English
| publisher =
| date =2015-03-03
| url =http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/67586/?fullname=marvin-l-stein
| accessdate = 2017-06-03}} He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1941, and immediately entered University of California, Los Angeles.{{cite web
| url =https://cse.umn.edu/cs/memoriam-marvin-stein
| title =In Memoriam: Marvin Stein
| last =
| first =
| date =2015
| website =University of Minnesota, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
| publisher =University of Minnesota
| access-date =
| quote = }} His studies were interrupted and in 1942 he served in the US Army Signal Corps as a tabulating machine operator, and had a short stint working at IBM. He returned to school after the war and graduated from UCLA in 1947.{{cite journal
| last =Aspray
| first =William
| title =Interview with Marvin Stein
| journal =Charles Babbage Institute
| publisher =University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy
| date =1984
| language =English
| url =https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107639/oh090ms.pdf
| accessdate = 2017-06-03}}
Stein did his Ph.D. at the Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA (or INA, an ancestor of UCLA's computer science department), where in the summer of 1949 he participated in a seminar on solving linear equations and finding eigenvalues and eigenvectors of matrices with several other future luminaries of the domain, including Magnus Hestenes, J. Barkley Rosser, George Forsythe, Cornelius Lanczos, Gertrude Blanch, and William Karush. Magnus Hestenes's work on the conjugate gradient method was a direct outgrowth of this group's work together over the summer.{{cite book
| editor-last =Nash
| editor-first =Stephen G.
| authorlink =
| publisher =Association for Computing Machinery Press
| date =1990
| pages =167–179
| doi =10.1145/87252
| language =English
| url =https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.1145/87252
| isbn = 9780201508147
| accessdate=2022-02-28
| title =A history of scientific computing
}} High speed computers were not available yet, so numerical experiments to test theoretical results were performed by hand by Stein and other researchers. Stein in particular studied Rayleigh–Ritz methods of variational problems.{{cite book
| last1 =Hestenes
| first1 =Magnus
| last2 =Todd
| first2 =John
| authorlink1 =Magnus Hestenes
| authorlink2 =John (Jack) Todd
| title =Mathematicians Learning to Use Computers: The Institute for Numerical Analysis UCLA 1947-1954
| publisher =National Institute of Standards and Technology
| date =1991
| pages =
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ztJUAAAAYAAJ
| isbn =
| accessdate=2022-02-28}}
After earning his Ph.D. from the INA in January 1951, Stein was hired as a senior research engineer by aircraft manufacturer Convair in southern California. He primarily worked on missile simulations for the SM-65 Atlas, on which he worked with a UNIVAC 1103. Though the 1103 had been made for and used by the Armed Forces Security Agency under the name "Atlas 2", this was the first commercially sold 1103. Stein's work installing the UNIVAC 1103 with Minnesotan and University of Minnesota alumnus Erwin Tomash introduced him to the emerging computer-science scene in Minnesota in the 1950s.{{cite book
| last1 =Misa
| first1 =Thomas J.
| last2 =Seidel
| first2 =Robert W.
| title =College of Science and Engineering: The Institute of Technology Years (1935-2010)
| publisher =Lulu
| date =2011
| pages =83–84
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Ao4tAgAAQBAJ
| isbn = 9780557739981
| accessdate=2017-06-03}}
Stein lost his job with Convair when his security clearance was revoked by the House Un-American Activities Committee on account of Stein's Jewish heritage. It was later re-instated, but Stein had already decided to move on.
University of Minnesota
In 1955, Remington Rand, manufacturer of the UNIVAC computers, heard that the University of Minnesota was considering purchasing a machine from one of Rand's rivals: an IBM 650. Rand offered to simply give the university 400 free hours on a UNIVAC 1103 on the condition that they hire a dedicated faculty member to oversee its operations. Stein was hired in the IT Mathematics department in the University of Minnesota to fulfill this condition, and he assumed stewardship of the UNIVAC.{{cite book
| last =Misa
| first =Thomas J.
| title =Building the Control Data Legacy: The Career of Robert M. Price
| publisher =Lulu
| series = Charles Babbage Institute studies in the history of computing
| date =2012
| pages =19–21
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7ffAwAAQBAJ
| isbn = 9781300058182
| accessdate=2017-06-03}} The UNIVAC 1103 was around 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and weighed over 17 tons.
Stein taught the first University of Minnesota courses on high-speed computation and played a singular role in developing the university's path to computer science education. In 1958, Stein was made the head of the university's Numerical Analysis Center at the Institute of Technology (later the University Computer Center), for which the university purchased its own 1103 at a discounted price of $250,000. The center was also home to a REAC 100. Stein maintained a computer archives system for decades, over three significantly different generations of machine.{{cite book
| last =Campbell
| first =David P.
| authorlink =David P. Campbell
| title =Handbook for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank
| publisher =Stanford University Press
| date =1971
| pages =viii
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=w4CaAAAAIAAJ
| isbn = 9780804707350
| accessdate=2017-06-03}}
In 1967, Stein created - with William Munro, Neal Amundson, and Hans Weinberger - the university's graduate program in Computer and Information Sciences. Three years later, in 1970, the university established a formal Computer Science department. Stein resigned as head of the Computer Center and became the first head of this new Computer Science department.{{cite journal
| title =Biennial Report of the President and of the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota to the Legislature of the State of Minnesota
| journal =Bulletin of the University of Minnesota
| pages =116
| publisher =University of Minnesota
| date =1968
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=E5pMAQAAMAAJ
| accessdate = 2017-06-03}} He stepped down the following year, and served as a professor in the department until his retirement in 1997.
Stein received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1963-1964 for his work with Magnus Hestenes on the conjugate gradient method and for being the principal inventor of the Pope-Stein division algorithm and the Stein-Rose sorting algorithm. He served as a visiting professor of computer science at Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel from 1963 to 1964 and at Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1971 to 1972.
Death
Publications
In 1964, Stein wrote Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach with contributor William Munro for Academic Press.{{cite book
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =Marvin
| last2 =Munro
| first2 =William
| title =Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach
| publisher =Academic Press
| series =
| volume =
| date =12 May 2014
| pages =
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=fyqjBQAAQBAJ
| isbn = 9781483258409
| accessdate=2017-06-03}} It was well reviewed in its time,{{cite journal
| journal =Mathematics Magazine
| volume =38
| pages =171
| publisher =Mathematical Association of America
| title= Review: Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach
| date =1965
| doi =10.2307/2688788
| jstor =2688788
| language =English
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Ryg5AAAAIAAJ
| accessdate = 2017-06-03| url-access =subscription
}} and in 2017, more than five decades after its publication, it was still in print in its third edition.{{cite book
| url =https://www.elsevier.com/books/computer-programming/stein/978-1-4832-2720-7
| title =Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach
| date =2017
| publisher =Elsevier
| isbn =978-1-4832-2720-7
| access-date = 2017-06-03
| quote = }} It was written with the intention to provide instruction in assembly language programming to both professional programmers and highly technical laypersons. Much of the book was originally designed around the CDC 1604 and the Fortran language.{{cite journal
| last =Ogden
| first =J.A.
| title =Book Review: Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach
| journal =Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society
| volume =15
| issue =2
| pages =158–159
| publisher =Cambridge University Press
| date =1966
| language =English
| doi =10.1017/S0013091500011536
| doi-access =free
}}
Bibliography
=Books=
- Stein, Marvin; Munro, William. Computer Programming: A Mixed Language Approach. (1964) Academic Press.
- Stein, Marvin; Munro, William. A Fortran introduction to programming and computers: including Fortran IV. (1966) Academic Press.
=Papers=
- {{cite journal
| last =Stein
| first =Marvin
| title =Gradient Methods in the Solution of Systems of Linear Equations
| journal =Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards
| volume =8
| issue =6
| pages =407–413
| date =1952
| doi =10.6028/jres.048.052
| language =English
| url =http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/048/6/V48.N06.A02.pdf
}}
- {{cite book
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =M. L.
| last2 =Rose
| first2 =J.
| last3 =Parker
| first3 =D. B.
| title =Papers presented at the March 3-5, 1959, western joint computer conference on XX - IRE-AIEE-ACM '59 (Western)
| chapter =A compiler with an analog-oriented input language
| pages =92–102
| publisher =Association for Computing Machinery
| date =1959
| language =English
| doi =10.1145/1457838.1457855| s2cid =5628233
| doi-access =free
}}
- {{cite journal
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =Marvin L.
| last2 =Rose
| first2 =Jack
| title =Changing from Analog to Digital Programming by Digital Techniques
| journal =Journal of the ACM
| volume =7
| issue =1
| pages =10–23
| date =1960
| language =English
| doi =10.1145/321008.321010| s2cid =17694132
| doi-access =free
}}
- {{cite journal
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =Marvin L.
| last2 =Pope
| first2 =David A.
| title =Multiple precision arithmetic
| journal =Communications of the ACM
| volume =3
| issue =12
| pages =652–654
| date =1960
| language =English
| doi =10.1145/367487.367499| s2cid =392139
| doi-access =free
}}
- {{cite journal
| last =Stein
| first =Marvin L.
| title =Divide-and-correct methods for multiple precision division
| journal =Communications of the ACM
| volume =7
| issue =8
| pages =472–474
| date =1964
| language =English
| doi =10.1145/355586.364796| s2cid =16077441
| doi-access =free
}}
- {{cite journal
| last =Stein
| first =Marvin
| title =Automatic Digital Programming of Analog Computers
| journal =IEEE Transactions on Computers
| volume =12
| issue =2
| pages =100–111
| date =1963
| language =English
| issn =0367-7508
| doi =10.1109/PGEC.1963.263419}}
- {{cite journal
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =M. L.
| last2=Mundstock
| first2=E. J.
| title =Sorting Implicit Outputs in Digital Simulation
| journal =IEEE Transactions on Computers
| volume =19
| issue =9
| pages =844–847
| date =1970
| language =English
| doi =10.1109/T-C.1970.223052| s2cid =26156075
}}
- {{cite journal
| last1 =Stein
| first1 =M. L.
| last2 =Munro
| first2 =W. D.
| title =Scaling Machine Arithmetic
| journal =IEEE Transactions on Computers
| volume =20
| issue =6
| pages =675–678
| date =1971
| language =English
| doi =10.1109/T-C.1971.223324| s2cid =206618712
}}
- {{cite journal
| last =Stein
| first =Marvin L.
| title =On complement division
| journal =Communications of the ACM
| volume =14
| issue =4
| pages =260–264
| date =1971
| language =English
| doi =10.1145/362575.362582| s2cid =10383466
| doi-access =free
}}
- {{cite journal
| last1 =Hestenes
| first1 =M. R.
| authorlink =Magnus Hestenes
| last2 =Stein
| first2 =M. L.
| title =The solution of linear equations by minimization
| journal =Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications
| volume =11
| issue =4
| pages =335–359
| date =1973
| language =English
| doi =10.1007/BF00932485
| s2cid =122370705
}}
Notes
{{reflist|30em}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Marvin (computer scientist)}}
Category:University of Minnesota faculty
Category:Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science
Category:Tel Aviv University people
Category:Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:American computer scientists
Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:Jewish American scientists