Random Access Memory (RAM) is a computer storage device which allows data to be accessed in any order, and Forrester’s original coincident current system was used in all computers until the development of static and dynamic RAM systems in the 1960s.

Coincident current system was a precursor to magnetic core memory which was invented by a teammate on MIT's Whirlwind project, Kenneth Olsen.  This system used a small number of wires to control a large number of cores, and it depended on the magnetic properties of materials to perform switching and amplification.  Forrester’s original attempts at core memory used ceramic bobbins and wires, but the system proved to be temperamental and unreliable.

Forrester’s inventions are the precursor to the modern computer and semiconductor industries today in the world.

Inventor Bio

Born In Climax, Nebraska, Forrester lived on a Nebraska cattle ranch until he entered the University of Nebraska, where he received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1939. Forrester received a M.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945. Following his work in computers, Forrester turned his attention to societal systems. The field of system dynamics was created in 1956 under his leadership to evaluate how alternative policies affect growth, stability, fluctuation, and changing behavior in corporations, cities, and countries. He is currently Germeshausen Professor at MIT, where he directs the System Dynamics Program in the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management.