An Wang interview: October 29, 1970
Richard R. Mertz · 1999
An Wang was born on February 7, 1920, in Shanghai, China. He graduated from the University of China in 1940. In 1945, he came to Harvard University to receive a masters and Ph.D., in applied physics. Between 1940 and 1945, Wang worked for the Chinese government inside the blockaded zone, fighting Japan. In government sponsored plants, Wang designed and built military receivers and transmitters. At Harvard, Wang enrolled in communications engineering. Wang's masters degree focused on general communication engineering, while his Ph.D specialized in using nonlinear systems. During Wang's academic career, he worked on and off in the industry connected with electronic equipment. From 1948 to 1950, Wang served as a teaching fellow at Harvard's Computation Lab. At the Computation Lab, Wang worked on Aiken's MARK III computer, providing assistance with putting information into magnetic media, and getting it back without mechanical motion; with designing the control circuit for the drum; design of some speed control devices; and development of a diode matrix for conversions and logic unit diodes for logic input and output. Wang comments on the use of a magnetic material called toroid. Passing a current a certain way on toroid causes it to be magnetized one way. This magnetizing lead to the basic idea of being able to store at least one bit of information on magnetic material. He comments extensively on their research and development regarding magnetic materials. In 1950, Wang left Harvard to begin his own company, Wang Laboratories. With an initial investment of a few hundred dollars, Wang began making magnetic shift registers which led him into the digital equipment field. Wang branched out to make other components such as tape control systems, numerical control systems, calculators, and later computers. He comments briefly on patents he holds. Wang mentions Professor Chaffee, Howard Aiken, Dan Moore, William Papian, and Jay Forrester.