Today In Computing

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february

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Picture of Alan J Perlis

Alan J Perlis died this month.

Died: February 7, 1990

Alan Jay Perlis was an American mathematician and computer scientist, and the first recipient of the A.M. Turing Award. He played a key role in establishing computer science as an academic field, and was instrumental in developing advanced programming techniques and compiler construction. Perlis was the head of several computer science departments, and his work contributed to the development of ALGOL, the precursor to Pascal. He was also known for his philosophical approach to computer programming, which he captured in his "Epigrams on Programming".

Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA 🇺🇸

Picture of David Hilbert

David Hilbert died this month.

Died: February 14, 1943

David Hilbert was a German mathematician, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1928 Hilbert, along with Wilhelm Ackermann, published the Entscheidungsproblem (Decision Problem) which asked whether all problems are calculable or computable. This question was answered separately be Alonso Church and Alan Turing in 1936. Both showed not all problems are calculable, in Turing's case this was achieved by defining the Turing Machine (computer) and the Halting Problem which showed no computer could calculate whether a program with a given input would halt or not.

Birthplace: Konigsberg, Germany 🇩🇪

Picture of Niklaus Wirth

Niklaus Wirth was born this month!

Born: February 15, 1934

Niklaus Wirth is a Swiss computer scientist who developed several programming languages, including Pascal and Modula. He also designed the Oberon operating system and co-designed the Lilith computer system. Wirth has received numerous awards for his contributions to computer science, including the ACM Turing Award in 1984.

Birthplace: Winterthur, Switzerland 🇨🇭

Picture of Julian Bigelow

Julian Bigelow died this month.

Died: February 17, 2003

Julian Bigelow was a pioneering American computer engineer. He worked with John von Neumann at the Institute of Advanced Study as the chief engineer on the IAS Machine (MANIAC) which was completed in 1951. The IAS Machine was one of the first computers built based on the Von Neumann Architecture for stored program computers. In 1943 Bigelow also coauthored one of the founding papers on cybernetics and modern teleology, "Behavior, Purpose and Teleology".

Birthplace: Nutley, New Jersey, USA 🇺🇸

Picture of Thomas J. Watson

Thomas J. Watson was born this month!

Born: February 17, 1874

Thomas John Watson Sr. was an American businessman who served as the chairman and CEO of IBM. He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956.

Birthplace: Campbell, New York, USA 🇺🇸

Picture of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was born this month!

Born: February 24, 1955

Steven Paul Jobs was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, business magnate, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors following its acquisition of Pixar; and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT.

Birthplace: San Francisco, California, USA 🇺🇸

Picture of Claude Shannon

Claude Shannon died this month.

Died: February 24, 2001

Claude Shannon was an American mathematician, electrical engineer, computer scientist and cryptographer known as the “father of information theory”. He laid the theoretical foundations for digital circuits and information theory. His most influential work was “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” (1948), which introduced the concept of entropy as a measure of information content and established the fundamental principles of information theory .

Birthplace: Petoskey, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

Picture of Taiichi Ohno

Taiichi Ohno was born this month!

Born: February 29, 1912

Ohno Taiichi was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S and Agile Software Development.

Birthplace: Dalian, China, Japan 🇯🇵