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Samuel Snyder, 96; Broke Codes And Designed Early Computers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123002435.html

December 31, 2007

Samuel S. Snyder, 96, who was honored this year for his contributions to
code breaking during the 1940s and the conceptualization and design of
computers in the 1950s at the National Security Agency and its
predecessors, died Dec. 28 at Sunrise assistant living in Frederick
after a heart attack.

In October, Mr. Snyder was inducted into the National Security
Agency-Central Security Service hall of honor for his work, which began
in 1936 with the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service.

He was among the first 10 employees of the Signal Intelligence Service
and became part of the inner circle of William Friedman, the dominant
figure in U.S. code breaking. During World War II, Mr. Snyder led teams
that successfully broke codes for the Japanese military attache system.

After the war, he was credited with having a major role in designing and
building Abner, a massive computing system for breaking codes. It was
named after the comics character Li'l Abner, "a big strong guy that
didn't know anything," Mr. Snyder told the Baltimore Sun in 1995.

"Abner looked like hell," Mr. Snyder said. "But it was the most
sophisticated computer of its time."
<snip>

In 1949, Mr. Snyder was named The Washington Post Ideal Father of the
Year during a Father's Day contest. One of his children, Elaine, wrote
at the time: "Our pop is these things: mathematician, artist, scientist,
house cleaner, sewer, dog harness maker, dog bather, can play the
clarinet, saxophone, piccolo, story writer, best father in the world, we
think."

-- Adam Bernstein

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