"I was fortunate in having an instructor at the University of Minnesota who was looking after me," recalled one electrical engineering graduate of 1949. "When I said, 'What's next?' he said, 'If I were you, I'd just go down the street here to Engineering Research Associates, and I'd think you'd like what they're doing there'." That was Seymour Cray, and his computer designs helped create a notable computer industry in the Twin Cities. Another Minnesota graduate, Earl Bakken (class of 1948), founded Medtronic and the core of a nationally renowned medical devices industry. For 75 years the...

This book presents a unique behind-the-scenes view into the Control Data Corporation during its ascent into the top rank of the computer industry. This detailed 15-part oral history starts with Robert M. Price's work programming the first generation of computers in California. In 1961, he joined Control Data. For the next 29 years, Price was in key positions -- culminating as President, CEO, and Chairman from 1986 to 1990 -- as Control Data grew from a Minneapolis start-up into a multi-billion-dollar global company. Lively anecdotes provide an in-depth assessment of Control Data's founder...