IP: Re: a marvelous obit re: Seymore Cray by John Markoff

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

To: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
From: markoff () nyt com (John Markoff)
Subject: Re: IP: a marvelous obit re: Seymore Cray by John Markoff
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 08:36:48 -0700


David,


        Thanks very much. As occasionally happens sometimes the anecdotes I
value most don't make it into the paper. This is a story  John Rollwagen
told me. You're welcome to share it with your list.




        Mr. Cray would do much of his computer design work on a fresh pad
of engineering paper, frequently going through an entire pad in a day.
        There have been many legends that have grown up around Mr. Cray's
reclusive work habits which frequently went late into the night.
        Mr. Rollwagen recounts one story of a customer who visited Mr.
Cray's home in Chippewa Falls.  When the man asked, 'what were the secrets
of his success, Mr. Cray said, "Well, we have elves here and they help me."
        When the visitor, who was a French scientist, expressed his
astonishment, Mr. Cray took him to look at a tunnel that he had dug under
his home. Shored up with four by four cedar logs, the tunnel appeared to go
in random directions, at one point going straight up into Mr. Cray's lawn.
(Mr. Cray later explained to Mr. Rollwagen that the tunnel had gone
straight up because one day it had collapsed while he was digging it and a
tree in his front yard had fallen into the tunnel.)
        Mr. Cray explained to his visitor that he would work at his home on
computer design problems for three hours at a stretch. When he reached a
technical stumbling block, he would then retire to the tunnel where he
would dig for an hour.
        "While I'm digging in the tunnel the elves will often come to me
with solutions to my problems," he said.