Ken Thompson

E31846
computer scientist human programming language designer software engineer

Ken Thompson is an American computer scientist best known as a co-creator of the Unix operating system and the B programming language, and for his foundational contributions to modern computing.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Ken Thompson (computer scientist) 1
Kenneth Lane Thompson 1

Statements (66)

Predicate Object
instanceOf computer scientist ⓘ
human ⓘ
programming language designer ⓘ
software engineer ⓘ
awardReceived ACM SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award ⓘ
Computer History Museum Fellow Award ⓘ
IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award ⓘ
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal ⓘ
Japan Prize ⓘ
National Medal of Technology and Innovation ⓘ
surface form: National Medal of Technology

Turing Award ⓘ
USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award ⓘ
birthDate 1943-02-04 ⓘ
birthPlace New Orleans ⓘ
surface form: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
coCreatorOf B programming language ⓘ
Go ⓘ
surface form: Go programming language runtime (early work)

Inferno operating system ⓘ
Plan 9 from Bell Labs ⓘ
UTF-8 ⓘ
Unix ⓘ
collaboratedWith Brian Kernighan ⓘ
Dennis Ritchie ⓘ
Rob Pike ⓘ
coRecipientWith Dennis Ritchie ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship United States of America ⓘ
degree Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences ⓘ
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences ⓘ
developed Thompson's algorithm ⓘ
Thompson's algorithm ⓘ
surface form: Thompson's construction
educatedAt University of California, Berkeley ⓘ
employer Bell Telephone Laboratories ⓘ
surface form: Bell Labs

Bell Telephone Laboratories ⓘ
Google ⓘ
era 20th-century computing ⓘ
21st-century computing ⓘ
familyName Thompson ⓘ
fieldOfWork computer science ⓘ
computer security ⓘ
operating systems ⓘ
programming languages ⓘ
fullName Ken Thompson self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Kenneth Lane Thompson
gender male ⓘ
givenName Kenneth ⓘ
influenced C programming language design via B ⓘ
modern Unix-like operating systems ⓘ
software security thinking ⓘ
knownFor Thompson's algorithm for regular expression matching ⓘ
Thompson's algorithm ⓘ
surface form: Thompson's construction for converting regular expressions to NFAs

co-creating the UTF-8 character encoding ⓘ
co-creating the Unix operating system ⓘ
co-designing the B programming language ⓘ
early work on the Plan 9 from Bell Labs operating system ⓘ
the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper ⓘ
work on the Inferno operating system ⓘ
languageSpoken English ⓘ
memberOf Bell Telephone Laboratories ⓘ
surface form: Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center
notableIdea compiler backdoor attack described in "Reflections on Trusting Trust" ⓘ
notableWork B programming language ⓘ
Inferno ⓘ
Plan 9 from Bell Labs ⓘ
the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper ⓘ
surface form: Reflections on Trusting Trust

UTF-8 ⓘ
Unix ⓘ
receivedAwardFor Turing Award ⓘ
surface form: Turing Award for the development of generic operating systems theory and the implementation of the Unix operating system
residence United States of America ⓘ
surface form: United States
thesisTitle Regular Expression Search Algorithm ⓘ

Referenced by (8)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Rob Pike → coInventorWith → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Dennis Ritchie → collaboratedWith → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Go → designedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Unix → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Ken Thompson → fullName → Ken Thompson self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Kenneth Lane Thompson
Thompson → hasNotableBearer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
this entity surface form: Ken Thompson (computer scientist)