1Honoring Delaware County native Ray Brachman for his
2instrumental role in developing military equipment and
3technology used by Americans.

4WHEREAS, Ray Brachman graduated from Purdue University with a
5Bachelor of Science degree and from the University of
6Pennsylvania with a Master of Science degree in Electrical
7Engineering; and

8WHEREAS, Mr. Brachman served as a United States Marine Corps
9officer during World War II and the Korean War; and

10WHEREAS, While working at Philadelphia's Frankford Arsenal,
11Mr. Brachman was responsible for the design, development and
12fielding of the first-ever militarized digital computer to be
13used by American Armed Forces; and

14WHEREAS, Mr. Brachman's digital computer, known as the Field
15Artillery Data Computer (FADAC), was first deployed in 1961 and
16used in artillery fire direction centers during the Vietnam War;

1and

2WHEREAS, Mr. Brachman's FADAC provided data for fire
3direction for all United States Army artillery pieces with
4calibers between 105mm and 203mm; and

5WHEREAS, The FADAC was also used as the missile system in the
6Lance, Pershing, Sergeant, Lacrosse and Nike-Hercules missiles
7and provided survey, sound ranging, counter-battery location and
8meteorological data computations; and

9WHEREAS, The FADAC's high speed of operation was made
10possible by new techniques put to use by Mr. Brachman and his
11colleagues; and

12WHEREAS, The FADAC was ahead of its time by conducting
13several operations simultaneously by combining access coding,
14rapid access loops and multiplication using two bits at a time,
15resulting in a computer that was capable of performing 12,800
16additions or subtractions every second; and

17WHEREAS, The technological advancements achieved by the FADAC
18is evidenced by the United States Army's use of the device for
1925 years and its instrumental role in developing global
20positioning systems; and

21WHEREAS, Mr. Brachman and his associates pioneered the
22concept of automatic testing of internal combustion engines by
23using built-in engine transducers (sensors) and collecting their
24outputs in digital form for analysis of engine performance and
25detecting faulty components; and

26WHEREAS, Mr. Brachman and his colleagues demonstrated this
27concept initially on several United States Army vehicles, but
28this concept has been universally embraced by all modern vehicle
29manufacturers; therefore be it

30RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the service

1and career of Mr. Ray Brachman to this nation and Commonwealth.