Judson Douglas Knott

Judd Knott was a good friend and colleague when we worked together at NASA's Langley Research Center in the early 1980's. He and I were tasked with developing system software for an experimental parallel computer called the Finite Element Machine, which the Structures and Dynamics Division was building to explore ways to tackle a certain class of very large engineering problems. We were one of several groups around the world who were working in the emerging field of parallel computing, and this was truly research: there was no instruction book on how to do this, so we were making things up as we went along. It was a very challenging project, sort of a baptism by fire for those of us who were trying to make it work, but it launched a number of young researchers into successful careers in what eventually became known as High Performance Computing. "FEM", as we called it, was being fabricated and assembled in-house at Langley at the same time as we were developing the software for it. As with many of these research computers, the hardware was flakey and we spent much of our time fooling around with logic analyzers trying to figure out why our code wouldn't run the way it should have. My background was heavy on software and theory, so Judd's hands-on experience with naval electronics, coupled with his newly-minted CS degree from ODU, made him a particularly valuable member of our team. Judd's great sense of wry humor helped lighten up the days when we were struggling with particularly knotty hardware or software or bureaucratic problems. Judd was deeply committed to his work, but it was always apparent that his highest priorities were home and family. The Knotts lived not too far from us in Norfolk, so we got to know Jo and the kids, too. Judd and I were in the same carpool with a couple of other NASA folks from Norfolk, so that gave us a bit more time to connect beyond the focused activities of our jobs. On days when Judd was driving, he would often swing by my house to pick me up and would sometimes have Evan, just a little fella then, strapped into the carseat in the back on his way to a drop-off at day care or pre-school. Even at that age, you could tell that Evan was a chip off the old block who could keep his dad mightily entertained and confounded. I'm betting he kept that up in the ensuing years. While I had not seen Judd in person since our NASA days, we have kept in touch with the Knotts through our annual Christmas letters so have some sense of what they've been up to and how the family has grown and thrived. Judd has left this world much too soon and our condolences go out to Jo, Travis, Cary, Rachel, Evan, and all the rest of the family. You were fortunate indeed to have him while he was here.