Originated the concept of a programmable general-purpose computer; designed the Analytical Engine and built a prototype for a less powerful mechanical calculator.
Led the team that created FORTRAN (Formula Translation), the first practical high-level programming language, and formulated the Backus–Naur form that described the formal language syntax.
One of two independent inventors of the concept of digital packet switching used in modern computer networking including the Internet.[9][10] Published a series of briefings and papers about dividing information into "message blocks" and sending them over distributed networks (1960–1964).[11][12]
Invented parametric cost modeling (which he called "Constructive Cost Model") for software and software-intensive systems (COCOMO). Invented the spiral method of software development (spiral model).
Designed LINC, the first functional computer scaled down and priced for individual users (1963). Many of its features are considered prototypes of essential elements of personal computers.
Significant contributions to compiler design and theory, the architecture of large systems, and the development of reduced instruction set computers (RISC)
Pioneering work organizing the concepts and leading the development of the general-purpose, large-scale, time-sharing and resource-sharing computer systems CTSS and Multics
Designed a series of computers that were the fastest in the world for decades; and founded Cray Research, which built many of them; credited with creating the supercomputer industry
One of two independent inventors of the concept of digital packet switching used in modern computer networking including the Internet.[9][20] Conceived of and named the concept for data communication networks (1965–66).[21][22] Many of the wide-area packet-switched networks of the 1970s, including ARPANET, were similar "in nearly all respects" to his original 1965 design.[23]
Fundamental contributions to modern cryptography. Diffie and Hellman's groundbreaking 1976 paper "New Directions in Cryptography"[24] introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures, the foundation of security protocols used on the Internet today.[25]
With John Mauchly, designed and built ENIAC, the first modern (all electronic, Turing-complete) computer; and UNIVAC I, the first commercially available computer
Pioneering the design and construction of large-scale artificial intelligence systems, demonstrating the practical importance and potential commercial impact of artificial intelligence technology[27]
Led team that defined a simple text file format for Internet host names, which became the Domain Name System; her group became the naming authority for the top-level domains of .mil, .gov, .edu, .org, and .com
Proved "don't-care" circuit minimization does not necessarily yield optimal results; proved that the ALGOL programming language was context-free (linking formal language theory to the problem of compiler writing); invented AFL Theory
Awarded the 2009 IEEE John von Neumann Medal for "contributions to programming language design and implementation and for exemplary service to the discipline of computer science"
Physicist and researcher at Bell Labs, developed the reflected binary code (RBC) or Gray code.[30] Gray's methodologies are used for error detection and correction in digital communication systems, such as QAM in digital subscriber line networks.
Created the first computational model of discourse, establishing the field of research and influencing language-processing technologies; developed SharedPlans model for collaboration in multi-agent systems
Proved the viability of parallel computing experimentally and theoretically; formulated Gustafson's Law; developed high-efficiency formats for representing real numbers Unum and Posit
Developed the concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling, end-to-end testing, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, such as priority displays which then became the foundation for ultra-reliable software design
Fundamental contributions to modern cryptography. Diffie and Hellman's groundbreaking 1976 paper, "New Directions in Cryptography",[24] introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures, the foundation for security protocols on the Internet today[25]
Pioneered a systematic, quantitative approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with enduring impact on the microprocessor industry
Pioneered work on the necessity for high-level programming languages, which she termed automatic programming; wrote the A-O compiler, which heavily influenced the COBOL language
Helped establish and taught the first graduate course in computer science (at Harvard); invented the APL programming language; contributions to interactive computing
Fundamental contributions to numerical analysis; foremost expert on floating-point computations; dedicated to "making the world safe for numerical computations"
Contributions to algorithm theory, including the development of efficient algorithms for network flow and other combinatorial optimization problems; identified polynomial-time computability with the intuitive notion of algorithmic efficiency; contributed to the theory of NP-completeness
Developed the first differential analyzer using transistors; developed one of the first machine-learning algorithms for character and image recognition; invented of one of the first minicomputers, the K-202
Pioneered many ideas at the root of object-oriented programming languages; led the team that developed Smalltalk; made fundamental contributions to personal computing
With Freddie Williams he worked on the Williams–Kilburn tube and developed the world's first electronic stored-program computer, the Manchester Baby, while working at the University of Manchester. His work propelled Manchester and Britain into the forefront of the emerging field of computer science. He also worked on the development of Atlas, one of the most powerful supercomputer in 1960s.
Pioneered the application of queueing theory to model delays in message switching networks in his Ph.D. thesis in 1961–1962, published as a book in 1964.[39] He later published several of the standard works on the subject. In the early 1970s, he applied queueing theory to model the performance of packet switching networks. This work played an influential role in the development of the ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. He supervised the graduate students who worked on the early communication protocols for the ARPANET. His theoretical work on hierarchical routing in the late 1970s with student Farouk Kamoun remains critical to the operation of the Internet today.
Lam was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame (2023) by the Internet Society for “inventing secure sockets in 1991 and implementing the first secure sockets layer, named SNP, in 1993.”[40] In 1990, he conceived the idea of a new security sublayer in the Internet protocol stack. This way, application programmers do not need to know much about implementation details for security. Also, the upper interface of the sublayer would enable implementation changes in the future. Lam's idea of a sublayer which offers a “secure sockets interface” to applications was novel and a radical departure from contemporary security research for Internet applications (e.g., MIT's Kerberos, 1988–1992). SNP was created for Internet applications in general. Subsequent secure sockets layers, SSL and TLS, developed years later for commercial browsers, followed the same architecture and key ideas of SNP. Today, TLS 1.3 is used not only for all e-commerce applications (banking, shopping, etc.) on WWW, but also for email, and many other Internet applications.
Formulated algorithms to solve many fundamental problems in distributed systems (e.g. the bakery algorithm). Developed the concept of a logical clock, enabling synchronization between distributed entities based on the events through which they communicate. Created LaTeX.
Made advances in symbolic logic, such as the Calculus ratiocinator, that were heavily influential on Gottlob Frege. He anticipated later developments in first-order predicate calculus, which were crucial for the theoretical foundations of computer science.
Began the investigation of human–computer interaction, leading to many advances in computer interfaces as well as in cybernetics and artificial intelligence.
Designed multiple symbolic representations machines, and pioneered notions of symbolic representation and manipulation to produce knowledge—both of which were major influences on Leibniz.
An English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and created the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognize the full potential of a "computing machine" and the first computer programmer.
Charles Babbage in 1843 and Percy Ludgate in 1909 designed the first two Analytical Engines in history. Ludgate's engine used multiplication as its basis (using his own discrete Irish logarithms), had the first multiplier-accumulator (MAC), was first to exploit a MAC to perform division, stored numbers as displacements of rods in shuttles, and had several other novel features, including for program control.
Fundamental contributions that shaped the design and testing of digital systems, including the first algorithm for digital logic synthesis, the Quine-McCluskey logic minimization method.
For transformative work that laid the complexity-theoretic foundations for the science of cryptography and in the process pioneered new methods for efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory.
The anonymous creator or creators of Bitcoin, the first peer-to-peer digital currency. Nakamoto's 2008 white-paper introduced the concept of the blockchain, a database structure that allows full trust in the decentralized and distributed public transaction ledger of the cryptocurrency.[42]
Together with J. C. Shaw[43] and Herbert Simon, the three co-wrote the Logic Theorist, the first true AI program, in the first list-processing language, which influenced LISP.
For pioneering a systematic, quantitative approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with enduring impact on the microprocessor industry.
Invented the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges, while working for Digital Equipment Corporation. Has done extensive and innovative research, particularly on encryption and networking. She received the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, among numerous others.
Published a series of papers grounding recursion theory as a separate area of mathematical research, setting the foundation for theoretical computer science.
The joint paper "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems",[50] which introduced the idea of nondeterministic machines, which has proved to be an enormously valuable concept. Their (Scott & Rabin) classic paper has been a continuous source of inspiration for subsequent work in this field.[51][52]
Pioneering the design and construction of large scale artificial intelligence systems, demonstrating the practical importance and potential commercial impact of artificial intelligence technology.[27]
The joint paper "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems",[50] which introduced the idea of nondeterministic machines, which has proved to be an enormously valuable concept. Their (Scott & Rabin) classic paper has been a continuous source of inspiration for subsequent work in this field.[51][52]
He is the documented earliest creator of a complete, operating adaptation of the internet to fully routed wireless operation, and many important / related technologies that are widely used today in such wireless devices. wireless internet
Stallman launched the GNU Project in September 1983 to create a Unix-like computer operating system composed entirely of free software. With this, he also launched the free software movement.
Father of modern digital computing and remote job entry. Coined the term "digital". Discovered the reflected binary code known as Gray code. Excess-3 code is named after him as well (Stibitz code).
Pioneering design and realization of the Xerox Alto, the first modern personal computer, and in addition for his contributions to the Ethernet and the Tablet PC.
Created mobile ad hoc networking; Implemented the first working wireless ad hoc network of laptop computers in 1998 using Linux OS, Lucent WaveLan 802.11 radios, and a new distributed routing protocol transparent to TCP/UDP/IP.
In 1912, Leonardo Torres Quevedo built El Ajedrecista (the chess player), one of the first autonomous machines capable of playing chess. As opposed to the human-operated The Turk and Ajeeb, El Ajedrecista was a true automaton built to play chess without human guidance. It played an endgame with three chess pieces, automatically moving a white king and a rook to checkmate the black king moved by a human opponent. In his work Essays on Automatics, published in 1914, Torres Quevedo formulates what will be a new branch of engineering: automation and designed an electromechanical version of Babbage's Analytical engine which introduced floating-point arithmetic.
Made several fundamental contributions to theoretical computer science, including the Turing machine computational model, the conceiving of the stored program concept and the designing of the high-speed ACE design. Independently of Alonzo Church, he formulated the Church-Turing thesis and proved that first-order logic is undecidable. He also explored the philosophical issues concerning artificial intelligence, proposing what is now known as Turing test.
Transformative contributions to the theory of computation, including the theory of probably approximately correct (PAC) learning, the complexity of enumeration and of algebraic computation, and the theory of parallel and distributed computing.
Built the first practical stored program computer (EDSAC) to be completed and for being credited with the ideas of several high-level programming language constructs.
Research in numerical analysis to facilitate the use of the high-speed digital computer, having received special recognition for his work in computations in linear algebra and "backward" error analysis.[58]
Built the first digital freely programmable computer, the Z1. Built the first functional program-controlled computer, the Z3 in 1941.[59] The Z3 already used what later became known as Reverse Polish Notation, and it was proven to be Turing-complete in 1998. Produced the world's first commercial computer, the Z4. Designed the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül.
^Mario Tokoro, ed. (2010). "9". e: From Understanding Principles to Solving Problems. IOS Press. pp. 223–224. ISBN978-1-60750-468-9.
^Cristopher Moore; Stephan Mertens (2011). The Nature of Computation. Oxford University Press. p. 36. ISBN978-0-19-162080-5.
^A. P. Ershov, Donald Ervin Knuth, ed. (1981). Algorithms in modern mathematics and computer science: proceedings, Urgench, Uzbek SSR, 16–22 September 1979. Springer. ISBN978-3-540-11157-3.
^Roberts, Dr. Lawrence G. (November 1978). "The Evolution of Packet Switching". Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2017-09-05. Almost immediately after the 1965 meeting, Donald Davies conceived of the details of a store-and-forward packet switching system; Roberts, Dr. Lawrence G. (May 1995). "The ARPANET & Computer Networks". Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-04-13. Then in June 1966, Davies wrote a second internal paper, "Proposal for a Digital Communication Network" In which he coined the word packet,- a small sub part of the message the user wants to send, and also introduced the concept of an "Interface computer" to sit between the user equipment and the packet network.
^Roberts, Dr. Lawrence G. (November 1978). "The Evolution of Packet Switching"(PDF). IEEE Invited Paper. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2018-12-31. Retrieved 2017-09-17. In nearly all respects, Davies' original proposal, developed in late 1965, was similar to the actual networks being built today.
^ abRabin, M. O.; Scott, D. (1959). "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 3 (2): 114. doi:10.1147/rd.32.0114. S2CID3160330.
^Copeland, B. Jack (2017-10-25). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2017-10-25 – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
