Documentary Night: An Wang
The story of Wang Labs and its founder
An Wang was a Chinese-American computer engineer and inventor, who did formidable work in the field of magnetic core memory. He was a Chinese immigrant and a who became an important figure in the electronics industry.
An Wang was a Chinese-American computer engineer and inventor, who did formidable work in the field of magnetic core memory. He was a Chinese immigrant and a who became an important figure in the electronics industry.His successful journey began when he created a pulse transfer device, together with a colleague, which is an important part of the development of magnetic core memory. He followed this invention with the development of write-after-read cycle thus solving the destructive read out problem, inherent to magnetic core memory. This was a key breakthrough in making magnetic core memory devices a viable option for storing data.
He obtained a large sum of money from many organizations that used his patented design for construction of the memory pattern in manufacturing of computers. He used this money to establish his own company and thus founded Wang Laboratories. The company became a market leader in desktop calculators and also achieved success with word processors.
He was an inventor with the sharp business acumen and incorporated his ideas to expand his company successfully. He was one of the most celebrated engineers and entrepreneurs of the 20th century, who contributed significantly to the development of computers.
AFTER the documentary - we can have a brief discussion session. NOTE: You must supply your own soda pop and popcorn! :-) Trivia may also follow, so bring your Jeopardy hats too!
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- Starts 29 January 2026 08:56 AM UTC
- Ends 20 February 2026 05:00 AM UTC
- No Admission Charge
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Documentary Night: An Wang
An Wang (Born: February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990) was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and cofounder of computer company Wang Laboratories, which was known primarily for its dedicated word processing machines. An Wang was an important contributor to the development of magnetic-core memory
Biography:
There is plenty of material publicly available on the history of this famous scientist. A good starting point can be:
Some links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Wang
Reading Material:
Wang, An; Linden, Eugene (September 22, 1986). Lessons: An Autobiography. Da Capo Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780201094008
Patents
U.S. patent 2,708,722 "Pulse transfer controlling device", filed October 21, 1949, issued May 17, 1955
U.S. patent 3,402,285 "Calculating Apparatus" (using logarithms for calculation), filed September 22, 1964, issued September 17, 1968
U.S. patent 4,145,739 "Distributed data processing system", filed June 20, 1977, issued March 20, 1979.
U.S. patent 4,294,550 Ideographic typewriter. October 13, 1981
U.S. patent 4,297,042 Helical print head mechanism. October 27, 1981
U.S. patent 4,386,864 Selective paper insertion and feeding means for individual sheet printing apparatus. June 7, 1983
U.S. patent 4,489,419 Data communication system. December 18, 1984
U.S. patent 4,508,463 High-density dot-matrix printer. April 2, 1985
U.S. patent 4,514,063 Scanner document positioning device. April 30, 1985
U.S. patent 4,587,633 Management communication terminal system. May 6, 1986
U.S. patent 4,595,921 Method of polling to ascertain service needs. June 17, 1986
U.S. patent 4,638,118 Writing pad. January 20, 1987
U.S. patent 4,712,795 Game racket. December 15, 1987
U.S. patent 5,129,061 Composite document accessing and processing terminal with graphic and text data buffers. July 7, 1992
U.S. patent 5,334,976 Keyboard with finger-actuable and stylus-actuable keys. August 2, 1994
Address:Cyber City, Michigan, United States, 48309
Agenda
7:00 PM - Welcome and Introductions, Chapter business update; (on your own) Pizza, Popcorn and Soda Pop
7:05 PM - Documentary
8:05 PM - End of Documentary; Start of Q & A; Group Discussion
8:15 PM - Wrap Up
ALL times are in EST/EDT (UTC-4 or UTC-5) depending upon local day light savings times in when effect
An IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section event. All are welcome. Consider becoming an IEEE member if such similar events are of professional/academic interest to you/
New screening for 2026!
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| An Wang FLYER | An Wang FLYER | 344.59 KiB |