The Man Who Invented
(or at least Co-Invented)
The World's First Transistorized Desktop Calculator
Thomas John Scuitto, the inventor of the WYLE Scientific, is finally being recognized
as the intellectual and creative genius behind the world's first transistorized desktop calculator.
Thomas John Scuitto at age 18 in the 1947 University of Utah yearbook. Here Mr. Scuitto is shown in a group photo with other members of the elite Army Specialized Training Program (A.S.T.P.) unit. This was an elite WW2 Army training program in Engineering and the Sciences. Entrance into this program was very difficult and required, among other things, a high score on an Army-administered Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. Consequently only a very small number of cadets, nation-wide, managed to get in. Mr. Scuitto was sent to this A.S.T.P. post at the University of Utah to specialize in engineering.
The Museum of TrailingEdge Technology was able to obtain the 1947 University of Utah yearbook and make the above high-resolution scan image for this exhibit.
(BELOW)
Thomas Scuitto was one (1) of only seven (7) honored among the elite group of 175 cadets, in the Army Specialized Training Program unit at the University of Utah, to receive the "Blue Star Award for Scholastic Ability and Achievement." Ceremony photo below taken from the 1947 yearbook at the University of Utah (Utonian). This was the first year this award was given to honor cadets in the history of the University of Utah. Concert pianist Grant Johnson played several numbers during the indoor part of the ceremony.
February 6, 1946
The Salt Lake Tribune
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
Thomas John Scuitto's childhood home (center) at 3826 39th Ave. S.W. in Seattle Washington. Thomas' mother, Alice N Scuitto, raised him alone as a beautician working in a beauty shop six days a week making $1,750 a year (in 1930 when Thomas was 2 years old) (that's $27,561 in 2021 dollars).
1930 United States Census Record
Seattle, Washington
King County
in 1943, the Fieldhouse at the University of Utah was converted to sleeping quarters for the Army Specialized Training Program (A.S.T.P) and meal facilities were provided in the school cafeteria. The Fieldhouse was known by the cadets as "The Bedroom." This is where Thomas Scuitto slept while he was enrolled in the rigorous and accelerated training program in engineering and the sciences.
January 2, 1944
The Salt Lake Tribune
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
January 18, 1946
The Uintah Basin Standard (Duchesne, Utah)
March 19, 1946
The Salt Lake Tribune
May 25, 1943
Deseret News
(Salt Lake City , Utah)
July 25, 1958
The Fresno Bee
(Fresno, California)
Mysteriously in December 1975, Thomas J. Scuitto was trying to locate his old partner on the WYLE Scientific project, Matthew A. Alexander. The reason and outcome are presently a mystery. This ad ran for a continuous week, which we have documentation of.
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