Bill Richardson, who graduated from Auburn in 1969 with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, spent 26 years working for International Paper (IP) at a time when computer-control innovation was on the rise. Richardson and a team of co-workers, including Auburn engineering alums John Botts (’64 and ’66 mechanical engineering) and Wayne Dobson (’69 electrical engineering), pioneered such efforts for the company, resulting in the first fully computer-controlled paper mill in the world in 1981. Richardson recently detailed the team’s experiences of building a paper mill around the computer for the Computer History Museum of Mountain View, Calif. His report can be found in the museum’s permanent archive collection.
Happenings
Man vs. machine
