Influential Mainframer Trivia: Bob Evans Influential Mainframer Trivia: Bob Evans April is dedicated to honoring influential mainframers past and present. This week’s quiz dives into the life and times of Bob Evans (1927–2004), who played a central role in shaping modern enterprise computing during his career at IBM. Enter the name you wish to see displayed on the Leaderboards. Email address is only to match on the Global Leaderboards and is not used for anything else. What did Bob Evans study during his university education? Physics Electrical engineering Business administration Mathematics In what year was Bob Evans hired by IBM? 1947 1951 1958 1962 What role did Bob Evans primarily play in the System/360 project? Hardware circuit designer Architecture and Design Overarching program leadership Marketing strategist How much did IBM invest in engineering, factories, and equipment to create the System/360? $500 million $700 million $2 billion $5 billion What long-term cultural trait in mainframe computing is linked to Evans’ work? Rapid hardware obsolescence Emphasis on short-term innovation Focus on stability and longevity Preference for decentralized systems Which IBM division did Bob Evans lead during the System/360 era? Personal Computing Division Data Systems Division Research Division Software Group What distinguished Evans’ contribution compared to hands-on engineers? He focused on leadership and coordination at scale He avoided technical projects entirely He specialized only in software coding He worked primarily in academia Which US president honored Bob Evans with the National Medal of Technology? Barack Obama George W. Bush Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan From 1981 to 1995, Evans acted as a chief science adviser to the government of which country? Japan South Korea Taiwan Vietnam According to the memories of his long-time secretary, Patsy Newman Costello, which of the following was Bob Evans known for at IBM? Having a photographic memory Flying his own Cessna 175 airplane 20 hour workdays All of the above Your score is Pos.NameScoreDuration 1AB100 %1 minutes 5 seconds2Armstrong80 %44 seconds3Admin60 %3 minutes 34 seconds4AA40 %1 minutes 14 seconds5AA20 %25 seconds6Admin10 %1 minutes 43 seconds
