Donald Knuth

Updated: 12/30/2019 by Computer Hope
Donald Knuth

Name: Donald Ervin Knuth

Born: January 10, 1938

Computer-related contributions

  • Computer scientist, author, and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.
  • Called the "father of the analysis of algorithms."
  • He contributed to the development of the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms and systematized formal mathematical techniques for it. In the process, he also popularized the asymptotic notation.
  • Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the computer modern family of typefaces.
  • A writer and scholar, Knuth created the WEB/CWEB computer programming systems designed to encourage and facilitate literate programming. He is also known for designing the MIX/MMIX instruction set architectures.

Significant publications

  • The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-4.

Honors and awards

  • Kyoto Prize (1996).
  • Harvey Prize (1995).
  • John von Neumann Medal (1995).
  • Turing Award (1974).

Quotes

"A list is only as strong as its weakest link."

"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."

Websites