COMPUTER SCIENTIST

Thomas E. Kurtz

1928 - 2024

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Thomas Eugene Kurtz (February 22, 1928 – November 12, 2024) was an American computer scientist and educator. A Dartmouth professor of mathematics, he and colleague John G. Kemeny are best known for co-developing the BASIC programming language and the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1963 and 1964. These innovations made computing more accessible by simplifying programming for non-experts and allowing multiple users to share a single computer, transforming how computers were used in education and research. For his role in creating BASIC, the IEEE honored Kurtz in 1991 with the Computer Pioneer Award, and in 1994, he was inducted as a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Thomas E. Kurtz is the 47th most popular computer scientist (up from 142nd in 2019), the 3,001st most popular biography from United States (up from 8,201st in 2019) and the 29th most popular American Computer Scientist.

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Among COMPUTER SCIENTISTS

Among computer scientists, Thomas E. Kurtz ranks 47 out of 245. Before him are Ole-Johan Dahl, Ivan Sutherland, Luigi Federico Menabrea, Steve Russell, Kevin Mitnick, and David Patterson. After him are Mary Kenneth Keller, Juris Hartmanis, Paul Graham, Joseph Weizenbaum, Bruce Perens, and Allen Newell.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1928, Thomas E. Kurtz ranks 162. Before him are Walter Tevis, Nick Holonyak, Ralph Waite, William Klein, Martin Davis, and László Budai. After him are Nodar Dumbadze, Yaacov Agam, Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia, Fredrik Barth, Henri Debehogne, and Cannonball Adderley. Among people deceased in 2024, Thomas E. Kurtz ranks 152. Before him are Yael Dayan, Ira von Fürstenberg, Jim Abrahams, Hugo Sotil, Sid Eudy, and Péter Eötvös. After him are Fritz Wepper, Cheng Pei-pei, Micheline Presle, Helmuth Duckadam, Jan Assmann, and Toby Keith.

Others Born in 1928

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Others Deceased in 2024

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Thomas E. Kurtz ranks 3,001 out of 20,380. Before him are Thomas F. Wilson (1959), Christa McAuliffe (1948), Anne Heche (1969), Michelle Trachtenberg (1985), Phillip Allen Sharp (1944), and Henry Calvin (1918). After him are Matt LeBlanc (1967), Jonathan Haidt (1963), Tracy Morgan (1968), Edwin Hall (1855), Jenna Dewan (1980), and Bernard Malamud (1914).

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Among COMPUTER SCIENTISTS In United States

Among computer scientists born in United States, Thomas E. Kurtz ranks 29. Before him are Hal Finney (1956), Charles Bachman (1924), Ivan Sutherland (1938), Steve Russell (1937), Kevin Mitnick (1963), and David Patterson (1947). After him are Mary Kenneth Keller (1913), Allen Newell (1927), Leonard Kleinrock (1934), Leslie Lamport (1941), Alan Perlis (1922), and J. C. R. Licklider (1915).

American born Computer Scientists

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