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@make(letterhead,Phone"497-4430",Who"John McCarthy",Logo,Old,Department CSD)@style(indent 8)
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@begin(address)
Marconi International Fellowship
Academy Conservatory
970 Aurora, Campus Box 64
Boulder, Colorado 80309
@end(address)
@greeting(Gentlemen:)
@begin(body)
	It gives me great pleasure to support the nomination of Dr.
Lowell Wood for the Marconi International Fellowship.

	He has a greater ability than any other scientist I know to
apply knowledge in physics, chemistry, electronics and computer science
to invent workable solutions to important scientific and applied problems.
I believe he
will make excellent use of the opportunities that the fellowship will
make available to him.  The world benefits from providing such creative
people with the opportunity to work for a time without the requirement
of justifying each step to a management.

	Lowell Wood is a current leader in several fields, and has initiated
major work in several others.  I don't know much about his work in defense
though I understand that it has been important, and I think that it is
important that people of his talents be willing to contribute to important
fields even if their work doesn't result in open scientific publications.

	Lowell Wood initiated research in nuclear fusion with lasers.
This has become one of the most important approaches to providing mankind
with a means of meeting its energy needs for the indefinite future.
I believe that the convincing development of such a source of energy will
help lift the cloud of pessimism that has been hovering over the intellectual
world.

	Lowell Wood has also contributed many advanced ideas for space
propulsion that await a more favorable climate for their implementation.

	However, I have a detailed professional knowledge only of his
work in computers.  My admiration for his clarity of vision and for
his intellectual leadership is based my knowledge of many previous
computer projects, both in computer companies and laboratories including
my own.

	Building a new large computer architecture is successfully
accomplished only rarely.  Computer companies generally copy their
previous architectures as long as they possibly can.

	Lowell Wood has successfully initiated and led the design
and construction of an extremely ambitious new computer without
the aid of a major computer company, building the design and construction
team from scratch, taking full advantage of the construction
facilities now commercially available.
He has also successfully organized the provision of a very advanced
software system for the machine.  The project compares favorably with
those done by major computer companies such as IBM, Control Data and
Cray Research, and the plans for basic software are more comprehensive and better
worked out than any of these.

	The S-1 computer will be the first to use multiple processors
of large size in substantial numbers capable of running independent
programs in the same large memory.  The problem of building a computer
in this way has been recognized as important since the middle 1960s,
but until now, such a project hasn't been organized and run
successfully.  Thus the Illiac 4 computer project consumed more than $40 million
and was still only partially successful.  The success of the S-1 project
is based not only on the design of the computer and the basic programs
provided for using it but also on the computer aids invented by Wood
and his colleagues that are used for developing and checking the design
and automating the major part of its manufacture.

The design of the computer, the design of its operating system and major
programming languages, and the computer aids for its aids for its design
and manufacture all present novel problems.
The present evidence is that the S-1 group under
Lowell Wood's leadership is solving them successfully.

	Technical ability alone could never accomplish such a task.  Lowell
Wood has succeeded in convincing some of the most world's most
creative young engineers and computer scientists to work together with
great dedication to realize this important new computer and this important
new way of building computers.

	The S-1 Project renews our faith that small groups of dedicated
people can accomplish tasks that baffle and frustrate large bureaucratic
organizations.
@end(body)
Sincerely,




John McCarthy
Professor of Computer Science