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Alan Perlis

American computer scientist (1922–1990)

Key facts

Born: Alan Jay Perlis , ( 1922-04-01 ) April 1, 1922, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died: February 7, 1990 (1990-02-07) (aged 67), New Haven, Connecticut , U.S.
Alma mater: Carnegie Institute of Technology (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS, PhD)
Known for: Internal Translator ALGOL Programming-language design Epigrams on Programming First Turing Award recipient
Awards: A. M. Turing Award (1966) IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (1986)
Fields: Computer science Programming languages Compilers
Institutions: Purdue University Carnegie Institute of Technology Yale University
Thesis: On Integral Equations, Their Solution by Iteration and Analytic Continuation (1950)
Doctoral advisor: Philip Franklin
Doctoral students: David Parnas Zohar Manna Gary Lindstrom John R. Levine

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Article

Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and educator who helped establish computer science as an academic discipline. He was a pioneer in compiler construction and programming language design, and in 1966 became the first recipient of the A. M. Turing Award. The Association for Computing Machinery cited him "for his influence in the area of advanced programming techniques and compiler construction".

Perlis worked on early digital-computing projects after the Second World War, including Project Whirlwind at MIT and computing work at the Ballistic Research Laboratory. At Purdue University and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he helped develop the Internal Translator (IT), an early algebraic compiler for machines such as the Datatron 205 and IBM 650. He was also one of the American participants in the design of ALGOL 58 and later contributed to the growth of ALGOL-related language research.