Dennis Ritchie

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (b. September 9, 1941; found dead October 12, 2011), was an American computer scientist who "helped shape the digital era." He created the C programming language and, with long-time colleague Ken Thompson, the Unix operating system. Ritchie and Thompson received the Turing Award from the ACM in 1983, the Hamming Medal from the IEEE in 1990 and the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999. Ritchie was ... More

Date of birth:

  • Sep 9, 1941

Date of death:

  • Oct 9, 2011 (age 70 years)

Country of nationality:

Also known as:

  • dmr
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Computers

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Author

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Award Winner

Awards Won:

Year Award Award Winner Notes/Description
  • 1983
  • For their development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for the implementation of the UNIX operating system
  • 1999
  • for co-inventing the UNIX operating system and the C programming language which together have led to enormous advances in computer hardware, software, and networking systems and stimulated growth of an entire industry, thereby enhancing American leadership in the Information Age
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National Medal of Technology Winners

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