Luigi Dadda

Who was Luigi Dadda?

Luigi Dadda was an Italian computer engineer. He is best known 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 is 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.