6 points by heygarrison 4 days ago
I realized this morning that I know very little of the actual history of computing (Just discovered Ken Thompson b/c I was researching who made go).
I prefer to learn history through characters as opposed to events. So my question to everyone who is willing to answer...
Who is your favorite historical person in computer science? (And why)
V.M. Glushkov. Soviet scientist who basically delineated cybernetics and computer science as a distinct field. He was about 50 years ahead of his time, so a lot of his best ideas we didnt really start fulfilling until quite recently. His grasp of the fundamental limitations of computers, and how to do useful things within them, was remarkable. He wasnt properly enabled and appreciated by the Soviets, so they were never able to lead the world in computing, but they had some impressive achievements. If you want to learn more, I recomend "Pioneers of Soviet Computing" and Glushkov's own "Introduction to Cybernetics". Of especial interest is his classification of algorithms and automata, nice to compare to modern programming paradigms and developments in new kinds of neural networks.
I like people who are fiercely pro-simple even when it isn't yet popular.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Hickey
My favorites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Cray Developer of the fastest computers at the time. A very unique individual.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig Developer of optimization methods used in modern day analysis.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper Grace Hopper - COBOL Language
Define "historical" ...
Anyway I nominate Cliff Stoll who wrote The Cuckoo's Egg and posts here from time to time. Definitely one of my heroes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)
Also I have one of his Klein bottles And he makes the buying process and paperwork an utter delight.
Alan Turing. Pretty common choice, but sometimes when I get wistful about the world of technology, I wonder how things would have been different if Turing lived into the digital computer age.
His story is a warning for a modern age, where men and women can be tried and sentenced through surveillance without being guilty of a thing.
Lynn Conway. I didn't know about her until she passed away, but learning about her helped me gather courage to come out. She was also a pioneer in electrical engineering and computer science.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Conway