Geoffrey Gordon

Geoffrey Gordon was the creator of the popular GPSS simulation system language.

Career In the early 1950s, Gordon began using analog computers for simulation in England. A few years later he began working with digital computers. Since the use of simulation was important in creating accurate models, Gordon suggested that a block diagram language be created similar to the Sequence Diagram Simulator. It became known throughout the company as a useful tool and became officially documented for internal use in the company on October 25, 1960. The use of the program outside of the company was soon recognized by the Cross Industry Marketing Group of IBM. On October 6, 1961, the program became available publicly outside of IBM as "GPSS I" after a complete rewrite. It was initially available for the IBM 704, 709, and 7090.

Gordon retired from IBM as a Consulting Systems Engineer and an IBM Fellow. He then became a professor at Kean University.

On December 19, 1989, he died in Washington, New Jersey.