Tom West
The soul behind the machine who turned a team's struggle into a National Book Award-winning story.
Tom West was an American technologist, notable for being the protagonist in the National Book Award-winning non-fiction book The Soul of a New Machine. He began his career in computer design at RCA, then after seven years at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory—a job he received right out of college—he started working for Data General in 1974, became head of the Eclipse group, and then lead on the Eagle project, building the Eclipse MV/8000. After the book's publication, Data General sent him to Japan, where he helped design the DG-1, a portable computer. His last project in 1996 was a thin Web server intended to be an internet-ready machine. He retired as Chief Technologist in 1998.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Joseph Thomas West III
- Born
- 22 November 1939
- Birthplace
- Bronxville, New York, U.S.
- Died
- 19 May 2011
- Place of death
- Westport, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Education
- Amherst College, B.A. 1962
- Children
- 2, including Jessamyn West
Reader's Guide
Tom West's legacy is defined by his role as the lead engineer on the Eagle project, which built the Eclipse MV/8000 at Data General. His team's intense, often grueling work was documented in The Soul of a New Machine, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that turned West into a symbol of the engineer's craft. After the book, he was sent to Japan to help design the DG-1, the first full-screen laptop, and later worked on a thin Web server in 1996 before retiring as Chief Technologist in 1998. West's career shows a trajectory from mainframe design at RCA to portable computing and early internet devices. His personal life included two marriages—first to Elizabeth Cohon in 1965 (divorced 1994), then to Cindy Woodward in 2001 (divorced 2011)—and two daughters. He died at 71 of an apparent heart attack at his Westport, Massachusetts home. His nephew Christopher Schwarz credited West's death with inspiring him to leave his magazine job and pursue independent work.
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