Donald brought a transition in the field of computers. He was the first to create the WEB and CWEB computer programming systems. He is rightly known as the Father of Analysis of Algorithms.
An American mathematician, Donald Ervin Knuth is a Computer Scientist and a Professor at Stanford University. He is known for his book The Art of Computer Programming, TeX, METAFONT, Computer Modern, MMIX, LR Parser, Literate Programming, and many more. Donald was an author and a scholar, too.
Donald’s motto in life is to organize and summarize what is known about computer methods and to give it a mathematical and historical foundation. To show that the connection between computers and mathematics is far deeper and more intimate than these traditional relationships would imply.
Knuth also has a Chinese name, Gao Dena, given in 1977 by Frances Yao just before his first visit to China. Knuth was very happy to get this name. He said that he had felt close to all the Chinese people though he cannot speak their language.
Birth and Education
Donald Knuth was born on January 10th, 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. As a child, Donald was not interested in mathematics. He showed his enthusiasm for a career in music. Donald completed his graduation at the Case Institute of Technology in the United States in 1960. In 1963, at the California Institute of Technology, he completed his Ph.D. in mathematics.
Married Life
When he was a graduate student, Donald married Nancy Jill Carter on June 24, 1961. She published a book on liturgy titled ‘Banner without Words’ in 1986. Jennifer Sierra Knuth and John Martin Knuth are their two children.
Books
Knuth is famous for his Multivolume Series of Books, The Art of Computer Programming. Still, no other book in computer science can be compiled with Donald’s encyclopedia the art of computer programming (TAoCP).
His thesis was Finite Semifields and Projective Planes in 1963. Donald wrote numerous books and articles, in the field of computers.
Contributions
- At the age of 22, Donald wrote Algol compilers in 1960.
- He invented the TeX typesetting language in 1977. It is used to produce high-quality technical books and papers. It formats complex mathematical expressions.
- He designed the SOL simulation language.
- At the age of 30, Donald published the first volume of his book, The Art of Computer Programming.
- Published the important paper- An Empirical Study of FORTRAN Programs in 1971.
- In 1974, Donald published his article Structured Programming with Go-To statements.
- Made the crucial contribution to the spelling “correctness proof” mythology.
- He introduced and refined the LR parsing algorithm.
Retirement & Health Issues
Donald Knuth is retired from Stanford University. But, still, he is very active and working on the next volume of his book. He has kept a closed eye on the evolution of computer science.
Donald was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had to undergo surgery in 2006. He reported this in his autobiography and stated, “a little bit of radiation therapy….. as a precaution but the prognosis looks pretty good”.
Influenced by
Donald Knuth drew inspiration from a 300-year-old algorithm by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler. He wanted to map a route through the Prussian city of Konigsberg that would cross each of its seven bridges only once. In his first volume of treatise, Knuth addressed Euler’s typical problem. Once Knuth applied Euler’s method in a sewing machine controlled by a computer. Donald also obtained 1271 digits of Euler’s constant by using Euler-Maclaurin summation in the year 1962.
Awards and Recognitions
- In 1971, Grace Murray Hopper Award.
- Professor Donald Ervin Knuth is the prestigious Turing Awardee for his outstanding contributions to the analysis of algorithms and the design of programming languages in 1974.
- National Medal of Science in 1979.
- SIGCSE Outstanding Contribution in 1986.
- In 1995, Donald received John Von Neumann Medal and Harvey Prize.
- Kyoto prize in 1996.
- Faraday medal in 2011.
- In 2010, he was honored by BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.
- Turing Lecture in 2011.
- In the WEB system, Knuth encapsulated the idea of literate programming.
- Flajolet Lecture in 2014.
Donald Knuth is one of the most distinguished computer scientists of the 20th century. Throughout his career, Knuth has played a major role in advancing computer software and programming languages. He designed a number of computing interfaces and early typefaces. He worked primarily in computer science and software development. Donald Knuth’s life is a good example of what a single talented individual can accomplish.
