Background
Backus, John W. was born on December 3, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Other Work
- Systems Design of the IBM 704 Computer (with G. M. Amdahl) 1954, The Fortran Automatic Coding System (with others) 1957, The Syntax and Semantics of the Proposed International Algebraic Language of the Zurich ACM-GAMM Conference 1959, Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 (with others) 1960, Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style? A Functional Style and Its Algebra of Programs, (Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery) 1978, Is Computer Science Based on the Wrong Fundamental Concept of Program? An Extended Concept in Algorithmic Languages (Holland) 1981.
John W. Backus
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John Backus, American Computer scientist. Achievements include system design of International Business Machines Corporation 704, Fortran programming language, Backus-Naur Form Language, function-level programming; member design group ALGOL 60 language E-mail: [email protected].
Education
Bachelor of Science, Columbia University, 1949; AM, Columbia University, 1950; Doctor of the University (honorary), University York, England, 1985; Doctor of Science (honorary), University Arizona, 1988; Docteur honoris causa, Université de Nancy 1, France, 1989; Doctor of Science (honorary), Indiana U., 1992.
Career
Programmer, International Business Machines Corporation, New York City, 1950-1953; manager programming research, International Business Machines Corporation, New York City, 1954-1959; staff member, International Business Machines Corporation T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, 1959-1963; International Business Machines Corporation fellow, International Business Machines Corporation Research, Yorktown Heights and San Jose, California, 1963-1991; manager functional programming, International Business Machines Corporation Almaden Research Center, San Jose, 1980-1991; consultant, since 1991.
Achievements
Works
Other Work
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Systems Design of the IBM 704 Computer (with G. M. Amdahl) 1954, The Fortran Automatic Coding System (with others) 1957, The Syntax and Semantics of the Proposed International Algebraic Language of the Zurich ACM-GAMM Conference 1959, Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 (with others) 1960, Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style? A Functional Style and Its Algebra of Programs, (Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery) 1978, Is Computer Science Based on the Wrong Fundamental Concept of Program? An Extended Concept in Algorithmic Languages (Holland) 1981.
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Membership
Manager Incest Information Bay Area, since 1992. With Army of the United States, 1943-1946. Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences.
Member NAS, National Academy of Engineering (Charles Stark Draper prize 1993), Association Computing Machinery (Turing award 1977).
Connections
Married Una Stannard, 1968 (deceased 2004). Children: Karen, Paula.
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Born
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Died
March 17, 2007 (aged 82) -
Nationality
American
Education
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1949
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1950
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1985
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1988
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1989
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1992
Career
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1950 - 1953
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1959 - 1963
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1963 - 1991
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1980 - 1991
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1991 - 2007
Awards
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Named Fellow award recipient, Computer History Museum, 1998. Recipient W. Wallace McDowell award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1967, National Medal of Science, 1975, Harold Pender award, Moore School Electrical Engineering, University Pennsylvania, 1983, Achievement award, Industrial Research Institute, Inc., 1983.Named Fellow award recipient, Computer History Museum, 1998. Recipient W. Wallace McDowell award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1967, National Medal of Science, 1975, Harold Pender award, Moore School Electrical Engineering, University Pennsylvania, 1983, Achievement award, Industrial Research Institute, Inc., 1983.