Ray Holt, inventor of the first microprocessor chip set, which was used as the digital flight computer in the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, is ill and needs our help. I first wrote about Ray in 2022 (see “Ray Holt and the CADC – The World’s First Military Digital Flight Computer”). That article detailed his development of the then-classified microprocessor chip set used in the aircraft’s CADC (Central Air Data Computer) with a variety of sensor inputs including air pressure, air temperature, and pilot control settings to set the airplane’s variable-geometry wings, among other things. The CADC’s microprocessor chip set predates the introduction of Intel’s 4004 microprocessor, but Holt’s name isn’t as well known as other microprocessor pioneers because his project was a military secret until Holt succeeded in getting the project declassified in the late 1990s, long after the early history of microprocessor development was set in stone. Since then, Holt started his own microprocessor company (Microcomputer Associates) and most recently he’s devoted his energies to providing technical education to economically disadvantaged kids in Mississippi. (See “Ray Holt and the Lost History of the First Multi-Chip Microprocessor.”)
Ray Holt developed the first microprocessor chipset in 1970. It was used as an embedded controller to configure the variable wing geometry of the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat fighter. Image credit: missippirobotics.org
Holt has developed medical problems and needs to spend several months at the Mayo Clinic to receive treatments that will hopefully save his leg. His friends have created a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the estimated costs to cover living expenses and the medications he’ll need for successful treatment. The GoFundMe page contains more details. The campaign is only about 11 percent of the way to its goal as of this writing. If you’re of a mind to support one of the early microprocessor pioneers, a largely unsung one, he could really use your help.
For more information about the microprocessor chip set designed for the F-14 CADC, see Ray Holt’s Web site: World’s First Microprocessor.
Click here to watch a 2-hour interview with Ray Holt, discussing the CADC project and his history. This video is part of the oral history collection of the Computer History Museum.
Click here for a transcript of that 2-hour interview.
For the detailed story, click here to access Holt’s Web site.
