Butler Lampson
Butler W. Lampson | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 23, 1943 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupation | Computer scientist |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Known for | Contributions to distributed personal computing, Xerox Alto, Ethernet, laser printing, WYSIWYG text editor Bravo, Euclid programming language |
Butler W. Lampson (born December 23, 1943) is a prominent American computer scientist recognized for his significant contributions to the evolution of distributed personal computing.
Education and early life
Lampson completed his education at the Lawrenceville School, where he was honored with its highest alumni award in 2009. He obtained an A.B. degree in physics with magna cum laude distinction from Harvard University in 1964, followed by a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967.
Career and research
During the 1960s, Lampson played a key role in Project Genie at UC Berkeley, helping to develop the Berkeley Timesharing System for the SDS 940 machine. After earning his doctorate, he held positions as assistant and associate professor at Berkeley between 1967 and 1971, while also leading system development efforts at Berkeley Computer Corporation from 1969 to 1971.
In 1971, Lampson was among the founders of Xerox PARC, where he served as principal scientist and senior research fellow until 1983. His influential 1972 memorandum titled "Why Alto?" laid out the concept behind the Xerox Alto, which debuted in 1973 featuring a pioneering three-button mouse and a full-screen monitor—widely regarded as the first genuine personal computer equipped with a graphical user interface.
He created the "Wildflower" architectural design that became the foundation for most Xerox PARC machines, including those utilized in the Xerox Star and various LISP workstations. At PARC, Lampson's contributions extended to groundbreaking innovations such as laser printing technology, two-phase commit protocols, the Bravo WYSIWYG text editor, and Ethernet local area networks. He also developed programming languages like Euclid.
Following the departure of Xerox PARC leader Bob Taylor in 1983, Lampson joined him at Digital Equipment Corporation’s Systems Research Center, progressing from senior consulting engineer to senior corporate consulting engineer over the period from 1984 to 1995. In 1995, he moved to Microsoft Research, where he has held positions including architect, distinguished engineer, and technical fellow.
Since 1987, Lampson has maintained an adjunct professorship in electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Honors and awards
- In 1984, Lampson was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received the ACM Software System Award for his work on the Alto, alongside colleagues Robert W. Taylor and Charles P. Thacker.
- In 1986, he was awarded an honorary Sc.D. degree by Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich.
- The prestigious ACM Turing Award was bestowed upon him in 1992 for his outstanding impact on personal computing and computer science.
- He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993.
- In 1994, he was inducted as a Fellow of the ACM.
- The year 1996 saw him honored with both the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award and an honorary Sc.D. from the University of Bologna.
- Lampson received the IEEE John von Neumann Medal in 2001.
- Alongside Alan C. Kay, Robert W. Taylor, and Charles P. Thacker, he earned the Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2004 for their work on the Alto.
- He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005.
- In 2006, Lampson was inducted as a Fellow of the Computer History Museum for his foundational work in computer science areas such as networked personal workstations, operating systems, security, and digital document publishing; that same year he received the IFIP TC11 Kristian Beckman Award recognizing excellence in information security.
- His induction into the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame took place in 2016.
- In 2018, Lampson was named a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.
Quotes
Lampson is frequently attributed with the phrase, "Any problem in computer science can be solved with another level of indirection." However, during his 1993 Turing Award Lecture, he acknowledged that this expression originally belongs to David Wheeler.
External links
- Official website of Lampson
- Explanation of the milliLampson unit
- Butler Lampson. Oral history interview, conducted on 11 December 2014 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1943 births
- Living people
- American computer scientists
- Computer designers
- Engineers from Washington, D.C.
- 1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
- Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
- Draper Prize winners
- Turing Award laureates
- Microsoft technical fellows
- Digital Equipment Corporation people
- Harvard University alumni
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
- Lawrenceville School alumni
- 20th-century American engineers
- 21st-century American engineers
- 20th-century American scientists
- 21st-century American scientists
- Scientists at PARC (company)
- Foreign members of the Royal Society
- University of California, Berkeley faculty
- Kernel programmers