robertcoveyou

Robert R. (Bob) Coveyou, resident of Oak Ridge from 1943 to present, was the Tennessee State Champion eight times. He won in 1947, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1963, and in 1968. Bob was born in Michigan and was the Detroit chess champion twice.

He attended Wayne State University and the University of Chicago, receiving his degree from Chicago after he had moved to Oak Ridge as a health physicist during World War II. He received his Master's Degree in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee and received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Gottingen in Germany in the 1960's.

His primary work and renown was in the area of applied mathematics in solving problems in nuclear engineering. He worked with computers from their inception as a major tool in problem solving and made significant contributions in Monte Carlo simulations of nuclear reactions, particularly in the field of nuclear reactor technology. A paper, "Serial Correlation in the Generation of Pseudo-Random Numbers" (Journal of the Association of Computing Machinery [JACM], Vol 7, N0 1, January 1960) was the precursor of his most widely cited paper, co-authored with R. G. McPherson, "Fourier Analysis of Uniform Random Number Generators" (JAMC, Vol 14 No. 1, January 1967). During 1961, at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, he presented a paper on "The O5R Code: A General Purpose Monte Carlo Reactor Code for the IBM 704 Computer." In the late 1960's, he was appointed to a two-year term as section chief at the IAEA in Vienna.

Once the war ended in 1945 and Oak Ridge was accessible to the general public, the availability of the chess talent where added to the existing pool of chess players in the East Tennessee area. Bob was a behind-the-scenes organizer of the 1948 US Junior Championship in Oak Ridge. He was president of the Tennessee Chess Association, directed many tournaments and participated in Tennessee chess activities until his retirement in 1977. Bob played in the state and regional tournaments in the South and occasionally played in the US Opens. In the 1957 Cleveland Open, he scored 7 ½ - 4 ½ during the day and played off-hand games with Bobby Fischer. One of his special talents was in sharing his enthusiasm for chess and computers with youngsters.