Creator of the First Computer Database Honored with National Medal

U.S. President Barack Obama today presented computer technology pioneer, data architect and ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Charles W. Bachman with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for fundamental inventions in database management, transaction processing, and software engineering, for his work designing the first computer database.

The ceremony at the White House ceremony was followed by a gala celebrating the achievements and contributions to society of Bachman and other pioneers in science and technology.

Bachman received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, and a master’s degree in that discipline from the University of Pennsylvania. He went to work for Dow Chemical in 1950, eventually becoming that company’s first data processing manager. He joined General Electric, where in 1963 he developed the Integrated Data Store (IDS), one of the first database management systems. 

He received the ACM A.M. Turing Award in 1973 for "his outstanding contributions to database technology." Thomas Haigh,  an associate professor of information studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and chair of the SIGCIS group for historians of computing, wrote at the time, "Bachman was the first Turing Award winner without a Ph.D., the first to be trained in engineering rather than science, the first to win for the application of computers to business administration, the first to win for a specific piece of software, and the first who would spend his whole career in industry."  

On being presented with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Bachman said, "As a boy growing up in Michigan making soap box derby racers, I knew that all I wanted to do when I grew up was to build things. I wanted to be an engineer. And I wanted to make the world a better place. An honor like this is something I never expected, so I’m deeply grateful to the President, Senator Edward J. Markey and everyone at the Department of Commerce who voted for the recognition."

He added, "It is important for me to credit my late wife, Connie, who was my partner in creativity, in business and in life. There are a lot of friends, family and colleagues who helped along the way, of course. I’d really like to thank them all, and especially those at General Electric who gave me the creative opportunities to invent. It is amazing how much faith GE had in our team with no guarantee of a useful result.

"I hope that young people just starting out can look at an honor like this and see all of the new creative opportunities that lay before them today, and the differences they can make for their generation and for future generations."

President Obama said Bachman and the other scientists honored with the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation embody the spirit of the nation and its "sense that we push against limits and that we’re not afraid to ask questions."