Carel S. Scholten

Who is Carel S. Scholten?

Carel S. Scholten was a physicist and a pioneer of computing.

He studied physics from 1945 to 1952 at the University of Amsterdam.

In 1947 he was asked by the Dutch Mathematisch Centrum to collaborate in building an automatic calculator with his friend and fellow student Bram Loopstra. Their first system, the ARRA I was not a success, but its successor, the ARRA II, on which Gerrit Blaauw also collaborated was.

In 1954 work started on the ARMAC, which he built together with Loopstra and Edsger Dijkstra, who was responsible for the software. The ARMAC was remarkable for its use of transistors.

In 1958 Scholten went to work for Electrologica, where he developed the Electrologica X1 computer with Loopstra. He remained with Philips Electrologica until 1979, when he switched to the Philips Physics Laboratory, where he stayed until 1985.

In 1991 he was given an honorary doctorate by Technische Universiteit Eindhoven.