Arthur Burks

Arthur Walter Burks (October 13, 1915 – May 14, 2008) was an American mathematician who worked in the 1940s as a senior engineer on the project that contributed to the design of the ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. Decades later, Burks and his wife Alice Burks outlined their case for the subject matter of the ENIAC having been derived from John Vincent Atanasoff. Burks was also for several decades a faculty member at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Burks earned his B.A. in mathematics and physics from DePauw University in 1936 and his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1937 and 1941, respectively. After obtaining his Ph.D., Burks enrolled in a national defense electronics course at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering. He became a teaching assistant and then a teacher at the Moore School, rooming with John Mauchly. When the ENIAC concept was funded, Burks joined the design team, contributing to the high-speed multiplier unit. He also met and married Alice Rowe, a human computer at the Moore School. In 1945, he was tasked with writing technical reports on the ENIAC and assisted with the preliminary design of the EDVAC. He also held a part-time philosophy instructor position at Swarthmore College. In 1946, Burks joined the computer project at the Institute for Advanced Study, working on the theory of automata. In the same year, he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to join the faculty of the University of Michigan, eventually becoming a full professor. He was instrumental in founding the university's computer science department. Burks' doctoral students include John Holland. He also served as president of the Charles S. Peirce Society and edited volumes of Peirce's collected papers. In the 1960s, Burks acquired and restored parts of the ENIAC for the University of Michigan. He was involved in patent disputes concerning the ENIAC's invention. In the 1970s, he was part of the BACH group, focused on complex adaptive systems. Working with his wife Alice, he authored articles and a book on the ENIAC and the Atanasoff–Berry Computer. Burks died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from Alzheimer's disease.