Charles E. Molnar, Sc.D., a former Washington University professor in the Institute of Biomedical Computing (IBC) and the IBC's founder and first director, died Friday, Dec. 13, 1996, of complications from diabetes at his Sunnyvale, Calif., home. He was 61.
Since 1995, Molnar was a researcher at Sun Microsystems Laboratories in California. At Sun Microsystems, Molnar was working on advanced computer hardware design, among other interests, at the time of his death.
Molnar came to Washington University in 1965 as an associate professor of physiology and of biophysics at the medical school. In his 30-year career at the University, Molnar also held appointments in the computer science and electrical engineering departments. He left the University in 1995 to join Sun Microsystems as director in the Science Office.
Molnar was a co-developer of the first personal computer, the LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), while a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1962. His collaborator was Wesley A. Clark, who later was a faculty member at Washington University School of Medicine from 1964 to 1972.
The LINC originated decades before the advent of the personal computer. Its development was the result of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program that placed 20 copies of an early LINC prototype in selected biomedical research laboratories nationwide, including at Washington University. Later, the LINC was produced in greater numbers by Digital Equipment Corp. and other computer manufacturers.
Molnar and Clark earned a 1983 Director's Award from the NIH for the development of the first personal computer. In 1985, Molnar was honored with the NIH's Jacob Javits Distinguished Neuroscience Investigator Award.
While at the University, Molnar worked on the LINC and in other computing areas, leading to innovations in computer graphics, cochlear mechanics and circuit designs. His research had a great impact on wide-ranging areas of biomedical and general-purpose computing.
In 1984, Molnar founded the IBC, formerly the Biomedical Computer Laboratory, which was founded in 1964 by Jerome R. Cox Jr., Sc.D., now the Harold B. and Adelaide G. Welge Professor of Computer Science. The IBC fused Cox's laboratory with the Computer Systems Laboratory at the School of Medicine. The IBC spans computing research activities at both the medical school and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Under Molnar's direction, the IBC made many advances in biomedical computing, and the research there became a factor in the reputation the University has attained worldwide in biomedical computing and engineering.
Molnar received a bachelor's degree (1956) and a master's degree (1957) in electrical engineering from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. He received a doctoral degree (1966) from MIT in electrical engineering.
Survivors include his wife, Donna Addicott Molnar; two sons, Steven and Christopher; and several grandchildren.
His body was donated to the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. A memorial service was held in Sunnyvale in December. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 in Graham Chapel, followed by a reception at 2 p.m. in the Whittemore House.
An endowed fellowship in honor of Molnar is being established and will be awarded annually to an outstanding entering graduate student in the University's Biological and Medical Engineering Program. Contributions may be addressed to: Charles E. Molnar Fellowship, Campus Box 1163, Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130-4899. For more information, call (314) 362-3124 or (314) 935-7534.
Please send comments and suggestions to: