Sage: An atomic bomb kicked off the biggest computing project in history
In addition to being vital for national security, SAGE was a proving ground for the US Department of Defense. It demonstrated the government’s ability to coordinate large-scale, diversified and highly sophisticated computer research and development. From his earliest conversations with MIT, IBM vice president of engineering John McPherson, who would become the company’s point person on SAGE, quickly recognized the magnitude of the data processing opportunity — the largest for IBM since it was c