Peter Jennings
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Peter R. Jennings,
a Canadian (born in England) [2] physicist, interdiscipline scientist, inventor, software developer, computer chess programmer, businessman, and paraglider. He studied mathematics, physics, fine art, philosophy, psychology, finance and marketing, and received a MA in physics from SUNY Stony Brook University in 1972, and a MBA in finance and marketing McMaster University in 1974 [3].
Chess
Peter Jennings is author of the first commercially successful chess program for microcomputers in 1976, MicroChess for the KIM-1 6502-based microcomputer [4]. In 1977 MicroChess was ported to 8080/Z80-based microcomputers [5], such as the TRS-80 [6]. Based on MicroChess 1.5, Jennings further created the programs for the dedicated 6504 based Commodore ChessMate (1978) and Novag Chess Champion MK II (1979) [7].
VisiCalc
In 1976, Peter Jennings co-founded Personal Software which became VisiCorp, and was involved in the creation of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program. Notably, MicroChess sales helped to finance the development of VisiCalc [8] [9].
See also
Publications
- Peter Jennings (1976). MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 6502 Microcomputer. pdf, Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
- Peter Jennings (1977). MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 8080 Microcomputer. pdf, Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
- Peter Jennings (1978). The Second World Computer Chess Championships. BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 1 » WCCC 1977
- Peter Jennings (1978). Microchess 1.5 Versus Dark Horse. BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 3 » MicroChess, Dark Horse
- Sellam Ismail (2005). Oral History of Peter Jennings. pdf and Video from The Computer History Museum
External Links
- DigiBarn: Peter Jennings and his MicroChess, Kim-1, and other wondrous artifacts
- DigiBarn Games: MicroChess 1.5 on the TRS-80 Model 1
References
- ↑ Oral History of Peter Jennings, February 1, 2005 by Sellam Ismail, The Computer History Museum
- ↑ Sellam Ismail (2005). Oral History of Peter Jennings. pdf from The Computer History Museum
- ↑ Are you the Peter Jennings I know?
- ↑ Peter Jennings (1976). MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 6502 Microcomputer. pdf, Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
- ↑ Peter Jennings (1977). MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 8080 Microcomputer. pdf, Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
- ↑ Microchess running on Radio Shack TRS-80 microcomputer, 1976, Courtesy of Peter Jennings and Digibarn, The Computer History Museum
- ↑ Scisys and Novag : The Early Years from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters
- ↑ VisiCalc - The Early History by Peter Jennings
- ↑ VisiCalc 1979 - VisiCorp by Peter Jennings
- ↑ Peter R. Jennings Magazine articles
- ↑ Paragliding from Wikipedia