"Getting The
Next 50 Years Started!"
Dr. Alan
Kay
|
Conference:
Biography
Alan Kay is
one of the earliest pioneers of object-oriented programming, personal
computing, and graphical user interfaces. His contributions been
recognized with the Charles Stark
Draper Prize of the National Academy
of Engineering[1] “for the vision, co nception, and development of the
first practical networked personal computers,” the Alan. M. Turing
Award from the Association of Computing Machinery “for
pioneering many
of the ideas at the root of contemporary object-oriented programming
languages, leading the team that developed Smalltalk, and for
fundamental contributions to personal computing,” and the Kyoto Prize
from the Inamori Foundation “for creation of the concept of modern
personal computing and contribution to its realization.” This work was
done in the rich context of ARPA and Xerox PARC with many talented
colleagues.
While at the ARPA project at the University of Utah in the late 60s, he
invented dynamic object-oriented programming[2], was part of the
original
team that developed co ntinuous tone 3D graphics, was the co-designer
of the FLEX Machine[3], an early desktop computer with graphical user
interface and object-oriented operating system, participated in the
design of the ARPAnet, and inspired by children[4], conceived the
Dynabook, a laptop personal computer for children of all ages,.
At Xerox PARC he invented Smalltalk, the first completely
object-oriented programming, authoring and operating system (which
included the now ubiquitous overlapping window interface), instigated
the bit-map screen, screen painting and animation, participated in
desk-top publishing, other desktop media, and the development of the
Alto, the first modern networked personal computer. This was part of
the larger process at PARC that created an entire genre of personal
computing including: the GUI, Ethernet, Laserprinting, modern word
processing, client-servers and peer-peer networking.
He has a BA in Mathematics and Biology with minor concentrations in
English and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, 1966. MS and
PhD in Computer Science (1968 and 1969, both with distinction) from the
University of Utah, and Honorary Doctorates from the Kungl Tekniska
Hoegskolan in Stockholm, Columbia College in Chicago, Georgia Tech, the
University of Pisa in Italy and the University of Waterloo in Ontario,
Canada.
He has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of
Arts, and the Computer History Museum.
Other honors include: J-D Warnier Prix d'Informatique, ACM Systems
Software Award[5], NEC Computers & Communication Foundation Prize,
Funai Foundation Prize, Lewis Branscomb Technology Award, the ACM
SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science
Education, and the CRN Hall of Fame.
He has been a Xerox Fellow, Chief Scientist of Atari, Apple Fellow,
Disney Fellow, and HP Senior Fellow. He is currently an Adjunct
Professor of Computer Science at UCLA. In 2001 he founded Viewpoints
Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to children and
learning.
At Viewpoints Research Institute he and his colleagues continue to
explore advanced systems and programming design by aiming for a
“Moore’s Law” advance in software creation of several orders of
magnitude. Kay and Viewpoints are also deeply involved in the One
Laptop Per Child initiative that seeks to create a Dynabook-like “$100
laptop” for every child in the world (especially in the 3rd world).
Outside of computing, Kay entered show business in the 50s as a
professional jazz guitarist. Much of his subsequent work combined music
and theatrical production. Today he is an avid amateur classical pipe
organist.
1 with Robert Taylor, Butler Lampson, and Charles
Thacker.
2 Inspired by Sketchpad and Simula
3 with Ed Cheadle
4 after meeting Seymour Papert and seeing the amazing work he was doing
with children and LOGO
5 with Dan Ingalls and Adele Goldberg