Richard Daystrom

Dr. Richard John Daystrom was a human scientist, specializing in cybernetics, active in at least the 23rd century.


 * "John" is the given name in James Blish's adaptation of "The Ultimate Computer". Though probably taken from an early draft of the script, this may also be  his middle name.

Born in 2219 in Göteborg, Sweden (, Vol. 1), he was a young genius often compared to Albert Einstein, Kazanga and Sitar of Vulcan.

In 2243, at the age of 24, Daystrom won the Nobel and Z-Magnees Prizes for the development of duotronics. starships, such as USS Enterprise, were among the first craft install with such systems.

A quarter-century after receiving accolades for his breakthrough in duotronics, Daystrom developed a system he called multitronics. He believed such a system would obviate the need for personnel aboard starships aside from a scientific research staff. The first four iterations of the multitronic system failed. With the fifth -- known as the M-5 multitronic unit -- Daystrom used his own engrams as the basis for the operating system (unbeknownst to Starfleet)

During wargames involving five heavy cruisers -- Enterprise, Lexington, Excalibur, Hood, and Potemkin -- M-5 went beyond the parameters of its creator's intentions, resulting in the destruction of Excalibur and the deaths of hundreds of Starfleet officers. The system was taken offline and Daystrom, who had suffered a nervous breakdown, was sentenced to rehabilitation. 

Some years later, Daystrom's daughter Melinda was kidnapped by Klingons so that he would built a multitronic device with the engrams of a Klingon imprinted upon it. This system, M-6, was as flawed as its predecessor and cripped the IKV Karak. (Orion Press: The Daystrom Project)

Daystrom's later observations of Caligar technology, combined with his abandoned research into multitronics, were the basis of a forerunner to holodecks. 

A text written by Daystron, Principles of Robotics, would be required reading for Starfleet Academy midshipmen for the course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" in the late 24th century. (Last Unicorn Games RPG: )

The Daystrom Institute, a preeminent Federation research facility, was named after Richard Daystrom.