Timeline - 1970s


<< Previous (1960s) || Next (1980s) >>

1970

  • Mathematics Faculty Computing Facility (MFCF) is established, with Morven Gentlemen as its first Director.

1972

  • Pat Fischer succeeds Don Cowan as Chair of AA/CS (1972 - 1974).
  • Paul Cress and Paul Dirksen receive the Grace Murray Hopper Award for the development of WATFOR.
  • Canada's National Research Council (NRC) awards $750,000 for Datapac, Bell Canada's Computer Network, which leads to the formation of the Computer Communications Networks Group (CCNG).

1973

  • Paul Dirksen succeeds Wes Graham as Director of the Computing Centre.

1974

  • The Applied Analysis Group leaves the AA/CS department and the name is changed to the Department of Computer Science.
  • Doug Lawson succeeds Pat Fischer as Chair of the Department of Computer Science (1974 - 1978).
  • Ribbit, a UW program written by CS students, wins the Canadian and the ACM US Computer Chess Championships and ties for 2nd in the World Championship.
  • The Waterloo Foundation for the Advancement of Computing (WATFAC) is formed by Wes Graham (Chair), Don Cowan, and Paul Dirksen as a charitable organization for the promotion of computing.

1975

  • Courses are now listed as "CS" instead of "Math".
  • The Waterloo Interactive Debugging Job Entry Terminal (WIDJET) is introduced, bringing an end to punched cards.
  • WATCOW, a portable computer system on wheels, is created by the CSG for use in demonstrations to high school students.

1978

  • John Brzozowski succeeds Doug Lawson as Chair of the Department of Computer Science (1978 - 1983).
  • First participation of UW at the 2nd ACM Programming Contest in Detroit. UW is represented by the team of Dave Boswell, Fred Crigger, Carl Durance, and Trevor Grove.

1979

  • Waterloo Basic Enterprises, UW's first software spin-off company, is formed.
  • Waterloo Pascal is developed by Dave Boswell, Mike Carmody and Trevor Grove and used in CS240.