Jay Wright Forrester

Jay Wright Forrester (July 14, 1918 – November 16, 2016) was an American <a href="/facts/Computer_engineer/5x1TRKGo">computer engineer</a>, <a href="/facts/Management_theorist/8KMV9yMM">management theorist</a> and <a href="/facts/Systems_scientist/necfqoog">systems scientist</a>. He spent his entire career at <a href="/facts/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology/Xk49vNA8">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a>, entering as a graduate student in 1939, and eventually retiring in 1989.
During <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> Forrester worked on <a href="/facts/Servomechanisms/lS3l6sY2">servomechanisms</a> as a research assistant to <a href="/facts/Gordon_S._Brown/Ea8vd5m3">Gordon S. Brown</a>. After the war he headed MIT's Whirlwind <a href="/facts/Digital_computer/SQe1aK05">digital computer</a> project. There he is credited as a co-inventor of <a href="/facts/Magnetic_core_memory/4TFIXSNd">magnetic core memory</a>, the predominant form of <a href="/facts/Random_access/1cxrCk3r">random-access</a> <a href="/facts/Computer_memory/hQKVQ51J">computer memory</a> during the most explosive years of <a href="/facts/Digital_computer/SQe1aK05">digital computer</a> development (between 1955 and 1975). It was part of a family of related technologies which bridged the gap between <a href="/facts/Vacuum_tube/VHd1BNLq">vacuum tubes</a> and <a href="/facts/Semiconductor/zFf3mGTE">semiconductors</a> by exploiting the magnetic properties of materials to perform switching and amplification. His team is also believed to have created the first <a href="/facts/Animation/093f9nUg">animation</a> in the history of <a href="/facts/Computer_graphics/lapBE8wv">computer graphics</a>, a "jumping ball" on an <a href="/facts/Oscilloscope/HMdD8XVk">oscilloscope</a>.
Later, Forrester was a professor at the <a href="/facts/MIT_Sloan_School_of_Management/NUu4uzme">MIT Sloan School of Management</a>, where he introduced the <a href="/facts/Forrester_effect/DnEayLeY">Forrester effect</a> describing fluctuations in <a href="/facts/Supply_chain/cApUyx1h">supply chains</a>. He has been credited as a founder of <a href="/facts/System_dynamics/EPI2wWsI">system dynamics</a>, which deals with the simulation of interactions between objects in <a href="/facts/Dynamic_systems/782gREl5">dynamic systems</a>. After his initial efforts in industrial simulation, Forrester attempted to simulate urban dynamics and then world dynamics, developing a model with the <a href="/facts/Club_of_Rome/v8hnwuNF">Club of Rome</a> along the lines of that popularized in <a href="/facts/The_Limits_to_Growth/Qdz05kCU">The Limits to Growth</a>. Today system dynamics is most often applied to research and consulting in organizations and other social systems.

Jay Wright Forrester open-in-new

Jay Wright Forrester