How Russ Theisen got started in the IEEE
By Russell E. Theisen LSM
I was born in 1937 and I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia and attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute Division [VPI] in Norfolk, Virginia. There the Engineering students were urged to join the Hampton Roads Engineers Society in 1956. I joined the Hampton Roads Engineering Society as a Student Member. I had never heard of IRE and at that time I was working toward a Professional Engineering Carrier. The IEEE had not been started back in 1955 -1966.
I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1953 and stayed with them until 1966, when I received my Professional Engineering [PE] certificate, I was working for International Business Machine [IBM] where we built the IBM-360-20, the first IBM Solid Logic Technology [SLT].
If they only knew then
Since IBM management did not recognize the importance of a PE certificate, Russ Theisen left IBM to establish a Federal Aviation Association [FAA] certified repair center called Compton Industries. I was hired as Plant Manager of a small FAA calibration and electronic repair center in Vestal, New York.
We helped establish similar centers in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Research Triangle at Raleigh, North Carolina. Everything went well until there was trouble with managements funding to buy the Cherry Hill manufacturing facility, owned by Lavoy Laboratories, who was in Litigation in the courts with Tektronix. I advised against the purchase, but management disregarded my advice. I questioned where we could get the purchase price and was told that is not your concern.
And when I found out where the funding for the purchase was coming from, and what was required of my portion of the company, I decided that I would leave that organization before they were investigated by the Government. Besides my wife did not like the cold and unfriendly north and wanted to go back the friendly south.
Later in my career, I moved to Orlando, Florida and became an Aerospace Engineer working at Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace in Orlando, Florida in 1966. They were an Airplane Company that was building Missiles for the Defense Industry.
It was there I helped introduce Automatic Test Equipment [ATE] to the Defense Industry now trying to build Missiles. At Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace, I learned how difficult it was to introduce an unknown technology to management that was looking in the mirror to steer Aerospace Technology Development. I was able to introduce numerical control test equipment for testing cables. It was a DITMCO system that was used to test the Drive-in Movie speaker cables.
I believe around 1973 that there was a group that would discuss computer technology. I attended an IEEE Computer Society meeting in Orlando, Florida.
I remember the speaker was a local University Instructor and I had a difficult time staying awake during the one hour lecture. There were only 6 or 7 people in the audience. After the meeting, I approached the Computer Society Chairman and I asked him if he could possible get a more interesting speaker? I felt that, if he wanted to get people to join the IEEE Computer Society and attend the meetings, he needed a more interesting speaker and topic. The Computer Society Chairman seemed irritated at my comment and he snapped back “Do you think that you could do any better?” I said I think that I can do much better. He said than you take on the responsibility of the IEEE Computer Society, because I quit.
That is how I got started in the IEEE Computer Society. I became the IEEE Computer Society Chairman at my first meeting.
Now that I was in charge I now tried to find out what resources were available to help me with the job.


I attended the local IEEE Orlando Section Meeting to see what I was up against and to also see what resources and/or help that were available, and maybe, to learn how the other Societies held their meetings.
It seemed that the IEEE Section had previously only budgeted allocations for one or two meeting per year. This is nowhere near what I had expected. I was thinking about 6 to 10 meetings per year. I thought that living in Florida it should be easy to attract good technical speakers.
Present funding and planning could not meet my expectations for a good Computer Society meeting.
I started to think of ways to improve the quality of the meetings and how we could afford a meeting facility, speaker and still keep the cost within budget which was $50 per year.
I started brain storming of things that I could do that would be interesting and would not cost much.
I wrote it all down in a notebook that I started to help others trying to get started.
It included many of the following topics:
• Interesting meetings { Talk about Mistakes that I have made, or how I screwed up and lessons that I learned}
• Interesting topics { Tours of a plant to review how something was done or made}
• Interesting speakers { Someone who has been successful at something in the past}
• Reasonable meeting facility costs { Nothing or very little like the price of a reasonable meal}
• How to reach possible members { Advertise brochures to each member to post at their place of business}
• How to promote the meetings { Section Notes or newspaper or company publications or telephone notifications }
• How to obtain or earn money for expenses { Hold a computer show and allow local business a chance to show their products to engineers}
• How to get local businesses to help supply interesting and free meeting locations and tours { Promote the Computer Society activities as important for business to support}
• How to train new members in the IEEE Computer Society’s culture. { How to get the IEEE Computer Society to publish a Chapters training manual }
• Where to get help and support from IEEE Section, Councils, Regions and National Society Administration { Write to all levels of the IEEE Computer Society and ask for help and ideas }
At that time I learned of the National Computer Conference [NCC] which was held twice each year. It was sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, [ACM] Association of Compute Machines and [AFIPS] American Federation of Information Processing Societies.
I became a member of IEEE and the Computer Society and read the Computer Magazine and Spectrum Magazines. I was a member of the Institute of Environmental Sciences [IES] and had some idea about having successful dinner meetings.
At that time, I was trying to get Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace interested in using computers, I read just about everything that I could get my hands on. My company did not support professional organizations at that time except to support people who presented technical papers at Professional Conferences. I started generating and submitting technical presentations for submission to IEEE Conferences. I had several papers accepted and made a trip to one of the Computer Society meetings in Washington, DC.
There, I met with the Computer Society Executive Committee and attended several meetings, where I learned how the IEEE Computer Society did business. I collected many ideas on how I could improve my Chapter Meeting and was able to get interest in my ideas on how to improve the Chapter Meetings.

Oscar Garcia and others taught me how to help the Computer Society
I started thinking of ways to get the type of meetings that would Interest me and tried to promote the concept to the Section. The section meetings were held in the Office of HP sales office in Orlando, Florida and it had adequate meeting facilities for our Computer Society meetings. I thought of what the Papers presented at the various past conference would do if we could be presented them at Chapters meeting for IEEE members who could not attend the conferences. I tried to use the Section Notes, [The Local IEEE Publication Newsletter]-- to promote the meetings, but they required that the notice of a meeting be delivered three months ahead of the meetings. The cost of postage was prohibitive to use first class mail and the Orlando Section notes never got published in time for our Chapter meetings.
We would hold a meeting scheduled the first week of the month and the Section notes would not be published until the 25th of the month. I thought of publishing my own notice using the Section Postage number. First I generated a list of all of the Section members including the Florida Council members, Computer Society and IEEE mailing addresses that I could find, since we only had about 25 Computer Society members in our Section and the minimum number of sorted mailing addresses the Post Office would accept, was 250. So I used many of the IEEE member mailing addresses as filler. I started generating a one-page notice of my meetings and I wrote a FORTRAN program that would take a page of text and repeat it over and over. Next, I talked my employer in to letting me use the computer on weekends and this would be unpaid overtime and I told them that if I could use the computer, I would buy all the paper that the computer needed for business operations in the development lab. This was far cheaper than paying for the postage using the US Post Office.
I sent my one page notice out each month and this worked very well. I got many more IEEE members to attend my meetings than the other local IEEE Chapters could for theirs. The monthly meeting notices that I was using got the attention of many IEEE officers both local and National Levels. As a result, I was invited to come and present the concept to the Governing board of the Computer Society.
I asked the then Computer Society President, Se Feng, to write a letter to my Company President Robert Whaland and request my attendance to the IEEE meeting, that I might be able to make the meeting. I knew that if I requested my attendance to the Computer Society meeting through normal company channels, the answer would always be NO.
One day I received a phone call from the Company President and asked to come to his office and explain this request that he had received. Before I went, I developed a cost of trip assuming the 4 meeting per year and the duration to be no more than a few days each. It represented a cost of about $5,000 per year.
I also included a summary of the unpaid over time that I was giving to the company so that there would be no loss of time that would be billed to the company customer for my absence. I had previously donated over 20 hours of unpaid overtime each week to the company. This far exceeded the cost of my support.
The trip was approved and a budget charge number was established for my trips.
I had generated a booklet for the IEEE-CS Chairman that listed the many things that I had learned on how to run a Computer Society meeting with the limited resources that seemed to be available through IEEE.
My management was furious that I was able to make the trip, but I told him to check my unpaid overtime that I was donating to the company. It was well over 20 hours each week. I had already donated over 1 man year to the company by trying to develop the first computer-controlled electronic test station [VATS] Versatile Automatic Test Set. I had done so since management decided that they could not pay for Automatic Test Set development manpower. I had developed a working computer controlled test set for a Navy Project to test the AGM-62 Walleye guided missile.
First Computer Assisted Test Set [CATS] that Russ Theisen helped design and develop for Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace.
It was a great learning experience. I later ran for IEEE CS Governing board in order to continue my attendance at IEEE Conferences. There were several news articles regarding my IEEE activities as seen below.

While I was on the Governing Board of the IEEE Computer Society, President Jimmy Carter was eleected. He was very much disalusioned at the antiquated process of the US Government, eapecially the Exeutive Branch. He invited the IEEE-CS to come to the White House and show him what he should do to get the Government out of the Dark Ages.
AT this briefing for President Carter we made suggestions on how to get a Computer in the Executive Office and get them IBM Profs Electronic mail using the ARPANET the Computer Society was presently using. Of course, both the Senate and the House wanted to get E-Mail also so we devised a plan to get the Federal Government using E-Mail. Also on a followup meeting Russ Theisen asked what would help you most in performing your duties? The House of Representatives said to find a way to keep them from having to respond to the bell that rang to call for a VOTE in the Capital Building. Russ Theisen sugested using TV and remote cameras with electronic voting capabilities to be located in each office. This was a way for them to vote electronically and not have to leave their offices and travel via an underground tunnel to the Capital for each vote called. This would also allow each member to monitor his committee meeting and also vote electronicly. A version of this was implimented. IEEE Computer Society Governing Board


Russ Theisen helped start the IEEE Computer Society in using the Computers for the Computer Society Business. He reasoned, how can a computer Society not use computers to conduct their business? They used the above machines {TRS80} as training tools to get the staff to use computer technology. Before we got them a larger Digital Systems Computer to run the Computer Society Business.
It started small but grew very quickly using the ARPANET for communications. Most of the Board of Governors had access to computers and Russ Theisen suggested that each Board member be provided a minimal computer terminal to get access to the Washington office of IEEE Computer Society and they could conduct business prior to holding the Governing Board meetings. The cost would be less than holding a fifth Board meeting to accomplish the business that must be handled. Actually it worked very well since the Board members could get the briefing of the item to be discussed and they could get their opinions and objections presented to every Board member before the meeting was held. It worked out great since the productivity jumped from 10 items per Board meeting to over 30 items per meeting since all were briefed on the action that was to be discussed and decided which only required an introduction and call for vote since all Board members were well versed on the proposal, pro and con and only had to hear the proposal and vote on them.

Mean while back at Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace Russ Theisen helped develop the
First Automatic Test Station at Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace .
It was several card cage consoles with a SCC 650 [12 ] bit computer attached as a controller. And a KSR-35 Teletype as input, keyboard, printer, and paper tape punch. It was slow but it worked and became a show piece for the Company after Russ Theisen wrote several demo programs that flashed lights turned tape reels and printed banner of 10-inch letters for each character typed on the keyboard. The Management now had a play toy and the word grew.

Later Russ Theisen tried to promote the Automatic Test Concept to Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace to include an [ATS] Automatic Test Set for all programs.

This promotion continuously fell on deaf ears, until the Army customer saw what the ATSthat we built for the Navy program could do to save testing time and money and they asked that we develop one for the Army Pershing Missile program.
We suggested that we make improvements to include much more logical computer design and programming language, since we had used an obsolete 12 bit Scientific Control Computer [SCC 650] computer because that is all that we could afford on the Walleye program, because there was not any funding for a test set on the Navy program.
The Versatile Automatic Test Set [VATS]
But the Army would not have us make any improvements, they only bought proven systems and they had seen what we did for the Navy Walleye program. They wanted the same capability for the Army.
We built it per the Army direction, but we strongly advised them not to select an old Obsolete 12 bit computer such as the SCC-650 that we had used, since it was out of production. But the Army said to order it, so we built an obsolete computer that cost us 10 times what a much improved Hewlett Packard 2100 16 bit computer would have cost. It would have been less than one third the cost of the obsolete machine they ordered. Besides we had a Basic Programming Language to use instead of the antiquate assembler that the SCC 650 computer was required to use.

This is the [MATE] Modular Automatic Test Equipment that Russ Theisen helped develop. It used a Phillips Data cassette for programming and data collection. It was built around the block diagram that Russ Theisen had developed as shown above.

First Dual In Line Packaging [DIP] looked like this was the IC-4004 in 1971

ALTAIR was the Start of the Personal Computer craze that has not stopped to this day. This was the item that caused Bill Gates to drop out of college start Microsoft in order to learn how to program this machine. He saw the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which featured the ALTAIR 8800. and he decided that that was the future and not what he was being taught in college.

Z-80 Micro Processor Chip in the Oaborene-1

Osborne 1
Introduced: April 1981d dec
Price: US $1,795
Weight: 24.5 pounds
CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4.0 MHz
RAM: 64K RAM
Display: built-in 5" monitor
53 X 24 text
Ports: parallel / IEEE-488
modem / serial port
Storage: dual 5-1/4 inch, 91K drives
OS: CP/M
Osborne-1 Computer was Russ Theisen’s first personal computer he personally owned. He still has it with all the software, documentation and maintenance manuals. Plus SAMS Photo fact maintance pack.

Steve Waznaic and Steve Jobs the start of the Apple Computer [Blue Box developed by Steve Waznaic]

First time Russ Theisen saw the Apple Computer breadboard looked like this in 1976

Bill Gates trying to sell his Microsoft Software at the [NCC] National Computer Conference [R], Russ Theisen was on the Governing Board that sponsored the NCC Conferences.
The First mouse developed by Xerox was made from a wooden 2X4 [L]
.
Microsoft team as it was back then.

The IEEE Computer Society Board of Directors. Russ Theisen is on the first row on your far left.
IEEE Computer Society Governing Board Executive Committee.

IEEE Computer Society Executive Committee
Russ Theisen is in the first row on your left.



Russ Theisen helped develop the ARPANET back in the early 1970 to1980s.
Russ Theisen served from 1975 to 1986 on the Computer Society Governing Board. It was not until the IRS stopped the Company Support of Professional Officers did he have to step down from National Professional Service.
When Russ Theisen stepped down from National Professional Service, the company Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace started to support others, such as George McClure. Who went on to make many contributions to IEEE.




He was instrumental in Development in 4 Technical IEEE Publications and several IEEE Standards Development and the introduction of ARPA-NET e.g. World Wide Web and [PROFS E-Mail] in both the Executive Offices of the White house and both houses of Congress.
He is active in both professional and civic organizations.
He was a member of MENSA.
He is a past Director of the [IEEE] Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society, [ACM] Association for Computing Machinery, [AIAA] American Institute of Avionics and Astronautics, [MMMC] Martin Marietta Management Club, [IES] Institute of Environmental Sciences, [FLA] Florida Library Association, [AFIPS] American Federation of Information Processing Societies, [ISC] International Services Council of Madison County, [SPIN] Software Process Improvement Network, [TABES] Technical and Business Expo Seminars, [HPCUG] Huntsville Personal Computer Users Group, [HUNTUG] Huntsville New Technology User Group, [TTTC] Technical Test Technology Council, [ACM] Association of Computing Machinery, [NMA] National Management Association, [ASQ] American Society of Quality, [HAVBUG] Huntsville Association of Visual Basic Users Group, [HOSUG] Huntsville Operating Systems User Group Boards of Directors and a Life senior member of IEEE-CS, Mended Hearts and Life Senior Member of IEEE and AIAA. Russ was the National Director of the Theisen Clan.
In 1969 - 1973 Russ was the President of Winter Park Pines Community Association of Florida. He led the Community Associations to establish the first Lighting District, by surveying the community for street lights, and getting them installed by the County. And he helped establish the First Fire Insurance District by surveying the community of about 1200 and making sure that a fire hydrant was within 500 feet of every home. He took a builder to court for his shady and illegal activities. He then took the builder to court all the way to the Florida State Supreme Court, and he won in both 1970 and 1971. Also, he helped establish the first [PUD] Planned Unit Development Zoning in the state of Florida.
SPECIAL REPORT Russ Theisen helped write the POSIX Language and six Automatic Test Languages including [MOTEL] Modular Oriented Test Equipment Language, [LSEQ] Launch Sequencer Electronic Quality Test Language, [EQUATE] Electronic Quality Automatic Test Equipment, [OPAL] Operational Performance Analysis Language, and Compiled BASIC.]
The most important technology in the past 50 years, is the Integrated Circuit. (We can thank the Russian Sputnik for this). Our Government never does anything good, unless we feel threatened.
POSIX: reveling in its popularity
Looking to save money and reuse software, Pentagon planners are turning to POSIX. The U.S. Navy's Open Architecture Computing Environment is driving the move to inter operable systems. If all real-time operating systems (RTOSs) work with POSIX, then soldiers can swap code from a broken computer to a new one.
In 1999 Russ Theisen was elevated to Life Senior Member of IEEE.


Russ Theisen’s biography has been published in the following books.

Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 3rd Edition, 1996
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 4th Edition, 1997
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 5th Edition, 1999
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 6th Edition, 2001
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 7th Edition, 2003
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 8th Edition, 2004
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 9th Edition, 2006
Who's Who in Science and Engineering - 10th Edition, 2007
Who's Who in the South and Southwest - 25th Edition, 1997
Who's Who in America - 53rd Edition, 1998
Who's Who in America - 54th Edition, 1999
Who's Who in America - 55th Edition, 2000
Who's Who in America - 56th Edition, 2001
Who's Who in America - 57th Edition, 2002
Who's Who in America - 58th Edition, 2003
Who's Who in America - 63rd Edition, 2008
Who's Who In Finance and Industry - 30th Edition, 1997
Who's Who In Finance and Business - 35th Edition, 2005
Who's Who In Finance and Business - 36th Edition, 2007
Who's Who in the World - 17th Edition, 1999
Who's Who in the World - 19th Edition, 2001
Who's Who in the World - 22nd Edition, 2004
Who's Who in the World - 24th Edition, 2006
Russell E. Theisen in 2003 GHS Hall of Fame Picture
Russ Theisen was nominated for IEEE Fellow three times, but since no good deed goes un punished.
I am told that Merlin Smith, the IEEE-CS reviewer, blackballed each Fellow nomination.
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Decision & Timing are Important
1. The Wrong Decision, at the Wrong Time, Results in Disaster.
2. The Wrong Decision, at the Right Time, Results in a Mistake.
3. The Right Decision, at the Wrong Time, Results in Rejection.
4. The Right Decision, at the Right Time, Results in Success.
We Can't spell S CCESS without U.
Some people make things happen,
Some people watch things happen,
Other people wonder what happened.
The rest only criticize those that make things happen,
Be part of the solution, and not part of the problem.
Keep learning, it is a never-ending process.
Remember for every one with a spark of Genius there are hundreds with ignition trouble.