Early Life
Robert W. Taylor was born in Dallas, Texas in 1932. His adoptive father was a Methodist minister and the family spent an itinerant childhood, moving from parish to parish. He started at Southern Methodist University at 16, served a stint in the Navy during the Korean War, and went back to school at the University of Texas under the GI Bill. At UT he was a "professional student," he says, taking courses for pleasure. He finally put them together for a degree in experimental psychology, with minors in math, philosophy, English and religion. While Taylor was trained as an experimental psychologist and mathematician his earliest career was devoted to brain research and the auditory nervous system.
Taylor taught math and coached basketball at a co-ed prep school in Florida. "I had a wonderful time but was very poor, with a second child -- who turned out to be twins -- on the way," he says.
Taylor took engineering jobs with aircraft companies at better salaries. After working for defense contractor Martin Marietta, he was invited to join NASA in 1961 after submitting a research proposal for a flight-control simulation display.
Read more about this topic: Robert Taylor (computer Scientist)
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