ACM Names Charles P. Thacker Recipient of the 2009 ACM A.M. Turing Award
Highest honor in computing awarded for pioneering work in personal
computing and network technologies.
Award Citation
For the pioneering design and
realization of the first modern personal computer—the Alto at Xerox PARC—
and seminal inventions and contributions to local area networks (including the
Ethernet), multiprocessor workstations, snooping cache coherence protocols, and
tablet personal computers.
Charles P. Thacker
Charles P. Thacker is a pioneering architect, inventor, designer,
and builder of many of today's key personal computing and network technologies.
During the 1970's and early 1980's at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Dr.
Thacker was a central systems designer and main pragmatic engineering force
behind many of PARC's technologies, including Alto, the first modern personal
computer with a bitmap screen to run graphical user interfaces with WYSIWYG
fidelity and interaction. All of today's personal computers with bitmap
screens and graphical user interfaces descend directly from the Alto.
In addition, he
invented the snooping cache coherence protocols used in nearly all small-scale
shared-memory multiprocessors, pioneered the design of high-performance,
high-availability packet- or cell-switched local area networks in the AN1 and
AN2, and designed the Firefly, the first multiprocessor workstation. Almost 30
years after the Alto, Dr. Thacker designed and built the prototype for the most
used tablet PCs today.
Additional information on Charles P. Thacker
About the ACM A.M. Turing Award
The A.M.
Turing Award was named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who
articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of computing, and who was a
key contributor to the Allied cryptanalysis of the German Enigma cipher during
World War II. Since its inception in 1966, the Turing Award has honored the
computer scientists and engineers who created the systems and underlying
theoretical foundations that have propelled the information technology
industry.
ACM's
most prestigious technical award is accompanied by a prize of $250,000. It is
given to an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to
the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major
technical importance to the computer field. Financial support of the Turing
Award is provided by the Intel Corporation and Google Inc.
ACM will
present the Turing Award at the annual ACM Awards Banquet on June 26, 2010, in San Francisco, CA.
ACM A.M.
Turing Award Site
Read
ACM's Press Release on the 2009 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient
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About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing
Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific
computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire
dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens
the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership,
promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence.
ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities
for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
Photo: Courtesy of National Academy of Engineering
