Memories - Volume 1 has taken a lifetime to write. The first Volume consists of the personal element. Volume I, Stories for my Grandchildren, contains recollections and the history of our family, my life, my wife's life, and our life together.
About the Author: From building model airplanes with his brother, Jack, to studying mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto, he went on to earn a Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from The Institute of Aerospace Studies and later became an astrophysicist (rocket scientist). There, in the early 50's he worked on the re-entry of space vehicles, setting the foundation for the 'heat shields' that made manned space travel possible. Rocky Martino was always thinking of a better alternative. His work at the Institute included extensive use of one of the world's very first computers. Soon he became known as one of the world's leading experts in computers. After earning his Doctorate, he worked with the inventor of Radar, Sir Robert Watson-Watt, before heading operations in Canada for UNIVAC. In 1959 he joined forces with Dr. John Mauchly, creator of the first computer, the ENIAC. Together they pioneered the development of the Critical Path Method, an algorithm for scheduling complex projects. It was this planning technique that was used in the creation of the submarine-based Polaris intercontinental ballistic missile - and the technique is widely in use globally today. After heading up computer operations for other companies, in 1965 Rocky started the R.L. Martino Company, later renamed XRT, Inc., a company that created processes and systems to handle secure international financial treasury management. In short order his clients included the largest companies in the world. When Rocky sold the company in 1997 it had thousands of clients in 51 countries processing more than $3 trillion per day through systems he and his staff created. Always a problem solver, in the early 1990s Rocky was thinking of an alternative to the large mobile phones. His vision was to make it possible for anyone to meet their telephone and computer data access needs with a single mobile device. His idea was to bring the Internet to everyone's fingertips. He designed and built prototypes, as early as 1994, of what he called the CyberFone; what we today call the "Smart Phone". He filed his first patent in 1995. By 2014, Rocky had 10 US patents issued; 1 US patent pending and 27 foreign patents issued. Rocco Leonard Martino is an international authority on finance and planning, trained in astrophysics and an expert on computer systems. On top of that, Rocky is an author, novelist, avid sailor, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.