Charles Bachman | |
|---|---|
 Bachman in 2012 | |
| Born | Charles William Bachman III (1924-12-11)December 11, 1924 Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | July 13, 2017(2017-07-13) (aged 92) Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS) Michigan State University (MS) |
| Known for | Integrated Data Store |
| Awards | Turing Award(1973) National Medal of Technology and Innovation(2012) ACM Fellow(2014) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | Dow Chemical General Electric Cullinet Bachman Information Systems |
Charles William Bachman III (December 11, 1924 – July 13, 2017) was an Americancomputer scientist, who spent his entire career as an industrial researcher, developer, and manager rather than in academia. He was particularly known for his work in the early development ofdatabase management systems.His techniques of layered architecture include his namesakeBachman diagrams. He won the 1973 ACMTuring Award.
Charles Bachman was born inManhattan, Kansas, in 1924, where his father,Charles Bachman Jr., was the head football coach atKansas State College. He attended high school inEast Lansing, Michigan, where his father served as head football coach atMichigan State College from 1933–1946.
InWorld War II he joined the United States Army and spent March 1944 through February 1946 in theSouth West Pacific Theater serving in the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Corps in New Guinea, Australia, and the Philippine Islands. There he was first exposed to and used fire control computers for aiming 90 mm guns.[2]
After his discharge in 1946 he attendedMichigan State College and graduated in 1948 with a bachelor's degree inmechanical engineering, where he was a member ofTau Beta Pi. In mid-1949, he married Connie Hadley.[3]
He then attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania. In 1950, he graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering, and had also completed three-quarters of the requirements for an MBA from the university'sWharton School.[2]
Bachman died on July 13, 2017, at his home inLexington, Massachusetts, ofParkinson's disease at the age of 92.[4]
Bachman spent his entire career as a practicing software engineer or manager in industry rather than in academia. In 1950, he started working atDow Chemical inMidland, Michigan.
In 1957, he became Dow's first data processing manager. He worked with theIBM user groupSHARE on developing a new version ofreport generator software, which became known as9PAC. However, the plannedIBM 709 order was cancelled before it arrived.[5]
In 1960, he joinedGeneral Electric, where by 1963 he developed theIntegrated Data Store (IDS), one of the firstdatabase management systems using what came to be known as thenavigational database model, in the Manufacturing Information And Control System (MIACS) product.
Working for customerWeyerhaeuser Lumber, he developed the first multiprogramming network access to the IDS database, an earlyonline transaction processing system called WEYCOS in 1965.
Later, at GE, he developed the "dataBasic" product that offered database support toBasic language timesharing users.In 1970, GE sold its computer business toHoneywell Information Systems, so he and his family moved fromPhoenix, Arizona toLexington, Massachusetts.[6]
In 1981, he joined a smaller firm, Cullinane Information Systems (laterCullinet), which offered a version of IDS that was calledIDMS and supported IBM mainframes.[6]
In 1983, he founded Bachman Information Systems, which developed a line ofcomputer-aided software engineering (CASE) products. The centerpiece of these products was the BACHMAN/Data Analyst, which provided graphic support to the creation and maintenance ofBachman Diagrams. It was featured in IBM's Reengineering Cycle marketing program,[citation needed] combining:
In 1991 Bachman Information Systems had theirinitial public offering, trading on theNASDAQ with the symbol BACH. After reaching a high of $37.75 in February 1992, the price hit $1.75 in 1995.In 1996, his company merged with Cadre Technology to form Cayenne Software.[7]He served as president of the combined company for a year, and then retired toTucson, Arizona. He continued to serve as chairman of the board of Cayenne, which was acquired bySterling Software in 1998.[2][8]
Bachman published dozens of publications and papers.[13] A selection:
After his retirement, Bachman volunteered to help record the history of early software development.In 2002 he gave a lecture at theComputer History Museum on assembling the Integrated Data Store,[14]and an oral history for the ACM in 2004.[5]Bachman papers from 1951 to 2007 are available from theCharles Babbage Institute at theUniversity of Minnesota.[13]In 2011, he contributed an oral history to theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.[6]
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