An Wang

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Dr. An Wang (Template:Zh-cp; February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990) was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories.

Born in Shanghai, China, Wang graduated from Chiao Tung University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1940. He immigrated to the United States in June, 1945 to attend Harvard University for graduate school, earning a PhD in applied physics in 1948. Wang stayed at Harvard after graduation to work with Dr Howard Aiken on the design of the Mark IV, Aiken's first fully electronic computer. Wang co-invented the pulse transfer controlling device with Way-Dong Woo, a schoolmate from China, who fell ill before their patent was issued. The new device implemented write-after-read which made magnetic core memory possible. Harvard reduced its commitment to computer research in 1951, prompting Wang's departure.

Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951, as a sole proprietorship. The first years were lean, and Wang raised $50,000 working capital by selling one third of the company to Warner Swasey, a textile machinery manufacturer. In 1955 when the core memory patent issued, Wang assigned it to IBM for $500,000 and incorporated Wang Laboratories with Dr Ge-Yao Chu, another school mate. The company grew slowly and in the 1964 sales reached $1,000,000. Wang began making desktop electronic calculators with digital displays, including a centralized calculator with remote terminals for group use. By 1970 they had sales of $27 million and 1400 employees. They began manufacturing word processors in 1976. Dr Chu, while trained as an electrical engineer, was in fact a mechanical wizard and was instrumental in modifying a typewriter for the word processor. A cassette tape built into the typewriter could store and display text files. These files could be edited and printed (as if the typewriter were typing on its own). At the time personal computers were unheard of and having a simple word processor was very useful, however these Wangs were expensive, multiuser machines. Celebrity author Stephen King purchased a Wang.

In addition to calculators and wordprocessors, Wang's company diversified into minicomputers in the early 1970s and mainframes by the late 1970s. Wang Laboratories, which in 1989 employed over 30,000 people, was headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts and later Lowell, Massachusetts. When Wang looked to retire from actively running his company in 1986, he insisted upon handing over the corporate reins to his son, Fred Wang. Hard times ensued for the company, and the elder Wang was eventually forced to remove his son in 1989. Still, when An Wang died of cancer in 1990, he left behind an impressive technical and philanthropic legacy. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1988.

Dr Wang was a good engineer but a mediocre business person. Most of the company's acquisitions were failures. He and his second wife, Loraine, lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where she still lives by herself. Their three children are Fred, Courtney, who runs an internet company in Dallas; and Juliet, an emergency medical technician and drives an ambulance.

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