Computer pioneer Dr. Jesse T. Quatse passes away

Dr. Jesse T. Quatse, a pioneering computer scientist, educator and entrepreneur who designed the world’s first portable computer terminal in 1965, as well as designing and patenting many cutting-edge computer technologies throughout his career, has died. He was 78. Quatse died of natural causes on May 19, 2013 in Marin County, CA after his health took a sudden turn for the worse just two weeks before.

Dr. Quatse, whose own history reflects the computer era, had a long and distinguished career beginning in the mid 1950s, when hired by Bendix Computer. While there, he designed the G-20 mainframe computer, which led to him being awarded a Bendix Doctoral Study Award. This grant allowed him to attend graduate school at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1961, where under Professor Alan Perlis, became the school’s first student, cofounder and faculty of the now famous Computer Science Department. His thesis advisor, Allen Newell, a founder of Artificial Intelligence, introduced him to the concept of “the modeling of human behavior”, something Quatse applied throughout his career. His crowning achievement at CMU was his developing and patenting of the G-21 computer. This hardware design played a leading role in establishing the school, but more importantly, was the world’s first portable computer terminal, decades before laptops and the internet.

Dr. Jesse Quatse with his portable Dataport computer, ca. 1967.

 

This device, revolutionary for it’s time, weighed nearly 70 pounds and allowed users to connect a portable computer to a mainframe using standard telephone lines. As phone laws at the time prohibited direct computer lines, Quatse bypassed this by using a suction cup type device called the acoustic coupler, forerunner of all modems. The G-21, consisted of a stripped down keyboard and circuitry that plugged into the acoustic coupler. Quatse also marketed this machine commercially as the “Dataport”, through his startup company Electronic Systems Inc. (ESI). In 1967, he commented, “the Dataport can be operated from the operator’s home, office, hotel room, or, with slight modifications, from his car, to any mainframe in North America”. The price tag of this computer was an astounding $25,000.

Completing his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at Carnegie, in 1968, Dr. Quatse relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to cofound Berkeley Computer Corporation, which included top CMU and UC Berkeley engineers.

This resulted in the building of the BCC 500 computer, which became the host for the ALOHA System on which Ethernet was invented. More remarkably, it brought together many of the creative minds who founded Xerox PARC, an important prelude to California’s Silicon Valley.

In 1971 he joined the faculty of UC Berkeley, and designed the “fault tolerant disk sharing network”. This involved the use of mini computers connected to a network, the precursor to what is now commonly known as intranet systems.

This lead to his next endeavor, when in 1973, he was invited by the French corporation La Telemecanique to design a family of minicomputers for France’s international computer industry. Quatse relocated to France, and for three years headed the development of SOLAR. During it’s lifetime, SOLAR’s contribution to the French economy was several billion dollars.

Returning to the US in 1976, Quatse oversaw a team that developed the “automated mailroom”. Patented by him, this was a redesigned electronic postage meter that employed a set of computing scales, all communicating on one LAN network. In only 2.5 years, this device captured 12% of the world’s postage meter market.

In 1980, a French multinational company invited him to design a product line of high speed, multi-cycle, automation computers for assembly lines using an operating system unheard of at the time. This prompted him to launch Maxitron, a California based corporation whose product line was selected by General Motors for their “Factory of the Future” project in Saginaw, MI. This was the first so called “Lights Out” factory where light was not needed as there were no workers on site.

From the late 1980s, Quatse became involved in software solutions for Fortune 500 companies. One of his clients was Federal Express, for which he designed their real-time package tracking system. Other clients included Merrill Lynch, Rockwell Corp., Mellon Bank, and the Library of Congress.

By the new millennium and facing the coming digital era, Quatse ventured into new territory. In 2001, along with his partner C.V. Ravi, they founded 7th Street Software, a company providing internet interface to mobile phones. This company was later acquired by Pay By Touch.

Throughout his career, Quatse had been issued 21 patents in the United States and Europe, with two still pending. In April, 2006, he was honored by his alma matter, Carnegie Mellon University for the computer school’s fiftieth anniversary celebration, CS50. Speaking as one of the “Voices of the Titans”, Dr. Quatse gave an address about his early days at the school and the G-21.

Hailing from Italian immigrant roots, Jesse Terrence Quatse was born May 14, 1935 in Pittsburgh, PA, the son of Dr. Jesse A. Quatse, and Theresa L. Quatse (nee Costanzo). His father was a dentist and professional football player, who in college was an All American for Pitt University in 1931. The elder Quatse later became an assistant football coach at Carnegie, where Jesse Jr. played college ball. Growing up in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Quatse attended Shenley High School, the historic school whose fellow alumni include artist Andy Warhol, musician Stanley Turrentine, and actress Barbara Feldon.

A long time resident of Mill Valley, CA, Jesse Quatse is survived by four daughters; Jessica Quatse, Veronica Quatse, Andrea Quatse and Celeste Longway, all of California, as well as his sister Laverne Boyd of Orange County, CA, and three grandchildren. He was married twice. His second wife, Cheryl Quatse (nee Venturella) passed away in 1999, and his first wife, Nancy Soref resides in Southern California. Their son, Evon Quatse died in 1998.

By Torin Boyd:
nephew of Dr. Quatse
May 29, 2013

www.torinboyd.com