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<title>Wen Tsing Chow</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Wen Tsing Chow</span></span>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">The native form of this <a href="Personal_name" title="Personal name">personal name</a> is <i>Chow Wen Tsing</i>. This article uses <a href="Personal_name#Western_name_order" title="Personal name">Western name order</a> when mentioning individuals.</div>

<p><b>Wen Tsing Chow</b> (<a href="Chinese_language" title="Chinese language">Chinese</a>: <span lang="zh">周文俊</span>; <a href="Pinyin" title="Pinyin">pinyin</a>: <i><span lang="zh-Latn">Zhōu Wénjùn</span></i>; 1918–2001), was a Chinese-born American <a href="Missile_guidance" title="Missile guidance">missile guidance</a> scientist and a <a href="Digital_computer" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital computer">digital computer</a> pioneer, known for the invention of <a href="Programmable_read-only_memory" class="mw-redirect" title="Programmable read-only memory">programmable read-only memory</a> or PROM.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Biography">Biography</h2></div>

<p>Chow was born in <a href="Taiyuan" title="Taiyuan">Taiyuan</a>, <a href="Shanxi" title="Shanxi">Shanxi</a> in 1918. He received a B.S. in <a href="Electrical_Engineering" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrical Engineering">Electrical Engineering</a> from National Chiao Tung University (now <a href="Shanghai_Jiao_Tong_University" title="Shanghai Jiao Tong University">Shanghai Jiao Tong University</a>) in 1940 and an M.S. in EE from the <a href="Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> in 1942.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Chow, working for the Arma Division of the <a href="American_Bosch_Arma_Corporation" class="mw-redirect" title="American Bosch Arma Corporation">American Bosch Arma Corporation</a>, pioneered the use of digital computers in missile, satellite and spacecraft guidance systems, leading the design of the <a href="United_States_Air_Force" title="United States Air Force">United States Air Force</a> <a href="SM-65_Atlas" title="SM-65 Atlas">Atlas</a> E/F <a href="ICBM" class="mw-redirect" title="ICBM">ICBM</a> (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) all-inertial guidance system and guidance computer, the first production airborne digital computer. Mr. Chow personally formulated the design of the first all <a href="Solid_state_(electronics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Solid state (electronics)">solid state</a>, high reliability, space-borne digital computer and established the basic systems approach and mechanization of America's ICBM guidance systems.

</p><p>Chow invented and holds a fundamental <a href="Patent" title="Patent">patent</a> on what is now commonly known as <a href="Programmable_read-only_memory" class="mw-redirect" title="Programmable read-only memory">programmable read-only memory</a> or PROM. PROM, in the late 1950s called a "constants storage matrix," was invented for the Atlas E/F ICBM airborne digital computer.

</p><p>He would continue working throughout the 1960s and early 1970s to develop and advance missile and spacecraft digital computers and guidance systems technology beyond the state of the art - working at the <a href="Aerospace_Corporation" class="mw-redirect" title="Aerospace Corporation">Aerospace Corporation</a> in the <a href="Project_Gemini" title="Project Gemini">Gemini</a> and <a href="LGM-30_Minuteman" title="LGM-30 Minuteman">Minuteman</a> programs and at <a href="IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a> in the <a href="B-1_Lancer" class="mw-redirect" title="B-1 Lancer">B-1</a>, <a href="B-52" class="mw-redirect" title="B-52">B-52</a>, <a href="Saturn_(rocket_family)" title="Saturn (rocket family)">Saturn V</a> and <a href="Skylab" title="Skylab">Skylab</a> programs, and of course, in the development of the <a href="AP-101" class="mw-redirect" title="AP-101">AP-101</a> digital computer used in the <a href="Space_Shuttle" title="Space Shuttle">Space Shuttle</a> Computer Complex.

</p><p>Chow, uniquely, worked on the guidance computers and guidance systems for every major United States Air Force ICBM and <a href="NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a> crewed space program from the very beginning with the Atlas, through <a href="Titan_(rocket_family)" title="Titan (rocket family)">Titan</a>, Gemini, Saturn, and Skylab, to missiles and spacecraft still in service today, Minuteman and the Space Shuttle.

</p><p>In 2004, the United States Air Force posthumously awarded Mr. Chow one of their highest awards, the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161117040023/http://www.afspc.af.mil/About-Us/Heritage/spaceandmissilepioneers">Air Force Space and Missiles Pioneers Award</a>, previously held by only 30 individuals. Chow is one of only a handful of civilians to receive this award and along with <a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">John von Neumann</a>, one of only two computer scientists so honored.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.asianweek.com/2009/07/05/chinese-american-hero-wen-tsing-chow/">"Chinese American Hero: Wen Tsing Chow"</a>. <i><a href="AsianWeek" title="AsianWeek">AsianWeek</a></i>. July 5, 2009<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">September 11,</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110722175532/http://www.afspc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100405-081.pdf">Air Force Space and Missiles Pioneer Citation for Wen Tsing Chow</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=03028659&idkey=NONE">U. S. Patent 3,028,659 for key PROM technology</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151016080757/http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=03028659&idkey=NONE">Archived</a> 2015-10-16 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-03-31" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Wen_Tsing_Chow&oldid=1283244933">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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