Nash, John P. (John Purcell), 1915-

Nash was a faculty member of the University of Illinois' Digital Computer Laboratory, which oversaw the development of the university's first two computers, the ORDVAC and the ILLIAC. Nash received a Ph.D. in mathematics at Rice University (1940), taught at Notre Dame, and worked as a physicist for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation before coming to the University of Illinois in 1950.

Work on both Illinois computers had begun in 1949. The ORDVAC was constructed under contract for the U.S. Army to be located at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. The ILLIAC remained at Illinois and was the focus for work at the Digital Computing Laboratory. Nash served as an applied mathematician for the lab, and supervised research in numerical analysis under contract for the Office of Naval Research. Nash also taught early computer courses that utilized the ILLIAC.

...