Luigi Dadda
| Luigi Dadda | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 29, 1923 Lodi, Italy |
| Died | October 26, 2012 (aged 89) Milano, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | Politecnico di Milano |
| Occupation | Computer engineer |
Luigi Dadda (April 29, 1923 – October 26, 2012) was an Italian computer engineer, best known for the design of the Dadda multiplier and as one of the first researchers on modern computers in Italy. He was rector at the Politecnico di Milano technical university from 1972 to 1984, collaborating on research at the same university until 2012. He was a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
He studied electrical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and graduated in 1947 with a thesis on signal transmission, a microwave radio bridge between the cities of Turin and Trieste.
His research interests then turned to models and analog computers as an assistant professor, and in 1953 he received a grant from the National Science Foundation in order to study at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In the interim, the Politecnico di Milano requested funding for a digital computer under the Marshall Plan; the request was granted in the sum of US$120,000, and the rector of the time, Prof. Cassinis, invited him to join the design team at the Computer Research Corporation of San Diego, since the machine, a Computer Research Company model CRC 102A, would not be maintained by the vendor after delivery to Italy, and it therefore needed to have in-house expertise on it. Dadda complied, thus forfeiting the NSF grant and transferring to San Diego.
He would travel to Italy on an old Liberty merchant ship along with the precious machine, packed in cotton balls in order to protect its valves from dangerous vibrations. Upon disembarkation in Genoa, the machine was declared with customs as an "electrical appliance", as the only computer machine in the taxonomy of goods used at the time was a "punchcard machine", but a punched card reader was not supplied with the computer, so it didn't fit the categorisation. An additional problem was that, at the time, Italy's taxation imposed the application of a small paper slip similar to a stamp (proving payment of duties) on each and every valve used in the machine. Since dismantling the machine to apply the slips was out of question, the customs allowed Dadda to pay the tax as a forfeit, and gave him a pack of slips to apply on the machine "as soon as possible". Those slips remained in a drawer in Dadda's desk.
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