The Cryotron Files

The Untold Story of Dudley Buck, Cold War Computer Scientist and Microchip Pioneer

By: Iain Dey, Douglas Buck, Alan Dewey

Narrated by: William Hughes

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The riveting true story of Dudley Buck - American scientist, government agent, and Cold War hero - whose pioneering work with computer chips placed him firmly in the sights of the KGB.

Dr. Dudley Allen Buck was a brilliant young scientist on the cusp of fame and fortune when he died suddenly on May 21, 1959, at the age of 32. He was the star professor at MIT and had done stints with the NSA and Lockheed. His latest invention, the Cryotron - an early form of the microchip - was attracting attention all over the globe. It was thought the Cryotron could guide a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles to their targets.

Four weeks before Dudley Buck's death, he was visited by a group of the Soviet Union's top computer experts. On the same day he died from a mysterious heart attack, his close colleague, Dr. Louis Ridenour, was also found dead from similar causes. Two top American computer scientists had unexpectedly died young on the same day. Were their deaths linked?

Two years old when his father died, Douglas Buck was never satisfied with the explanation of his father's death and has spent more than 20 years investigating it, acquiring his father's lab books, diaries, correspondence, research papers, and patent filings. Armed with this research, award-winning journalist Iain Dey tells, with compelling immediacy, the story of Dudley Buck's life and groundbreaking work, starting from his unconventional beginnings in California through to his untimely death and beyond.

The Cryotron Files is at once the gripping narrative history of America and its computer scientists during the Cold War and the dramatic personal story of rising MIT star Dudley Buck in the high-stakes days of spies, supercomputers, and the space and nuclear race.

©2018 Iain Dey and Douglas Buck (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

incredible

wow... just wow! thanks for writing this. I'm a computer science major/software engineer and never knew!

Should be taught in schools

I had always thought that things started with the traitorous eight, and the homebrew guys. This was utterly fascinating and entertaining. I was amazed at how much information the authors were able to collect to piece together this riveting tale. I’m glad that with the release of this book, this story becomes part of the tale of the inception of computers, and how important Buck’s creations were to the development of many of today’s technologies. Thank you to the authors for all the research you did to weave this fascinating and engaging story together.

An unknown genius! Here is his story.

I stumbled into this book. I'm glad I did. I wished he had lived his full life. He would have made a lot more advances in Computer power.

great story about an unknown computer genius

Great side story of the microchip era. Dudley Buck could have been one of the greats in computer electronics had he not been taken away so young.

Positively informative.

Great read, especially for current world events.
Intriguing to the point I had to pause and research a few events, people or topics. Excellent narration

Majestic

A must read for anyone interested in the history of technology and human creativity. Bravo!

Great Informative

This was a really informative book. It delves into the history of computers, NSA, the cold War and more through the life of Dudley. A truly great read/listen.

Couldn't stop listening - awesome story

I've never really enjoyed listening to tech history until this book. Epic true story

Prelude to the current state of quantum computing

Having firsthand experience in the now "burgeoning" sector of superconducting microelectronics technologies (large-scale quantum computers are right around the corner!), I had already known of Dudley Buck's development of the cryotron. I knew nothing more of him, though. It's great to learn that he was a major influencer, and in some cases likely a primary inventor, of so many of the technologies we take for granted today; and have yet to take for granted, as they are still under development.

The book gives quite a bit of background regarding military technologies, as well as associated propaganda, during the cold war era.

The book is non-technical, detailed in scope, and is narrated very well by William Hughes.

An amazing look in computer history

This is a very captivating look into the research and development that pioneered our modern computer world. The story of Dr. Buck shows quite a bit about how our modern world was created and shows that Dr. Buck is criminally understated in computer history