CDR Howard Engstrom and LCDR William Norris, were U.S. Navy codebreakers. They worked for the Communications Supplementary Activity Washington (CSAW). CSAW (pronounced "Seesaw" by the codebreakers) was located at 3801 Nebraska Ave from Feb 1943 to Sep 1950.
These codebreakers went on to lay the foundation for modern-day computers at a company Engstrom and Norris formed in Sep 1946 called Engineering Research Associates (ERA) in Saint Paul, MN; working on U.S. Navy military cryptographic contracts.
ERA was founded by Howard Engstrom, a former Yale University mathematics professor, who headed the research operation at CSAW; William C. "Bill" Norris, a former X-ray equipment salesman and codebreaker at CSAW; and John E. Parker (a Naval Academy graduate, financier and entrepreneur).
So, what do the codebreakers have to do with the invention of the computer?
Plenty.
Click the links below and read the articles. All are well worth the time spent. Excellent reading.
The Supermen, The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards behind the Supercomputer by Charles J. Murray. Book Excerpt. Chapter One: The Codebreakers.
