Kenneth E. Iverson
Kenneth Eugene Iverson (17 December 1920 – 19 October 2004) was a Canadian computer scientist noted for the development of the programming language APL. He was honored with the Turing Award in 1979 "for his pioneering effort in programming languages and mathematical notation resulting in what the computing field now knows as APL; for his contributions to the implementation of interactive systems, to educational uses of APL, and to programming language theory and practice".[1]
Kenneth E. Iverson
17 December 1920
19 October 2004 (aged 83)
- Mathematics
- Computer science
- Harvard University
- IBM
- I. P. Sharp Associates
- Jsoftware Inc.
Life[edit]
Ken Iverson was born on 17 December 1920 near Camrose, a town in central Alberta, Canada.[2] His parents were farmers who came to Alberta from North Dakota; his ancestors came from Trondheim, Norway.[3]
During World War II, he served first in the Canadian Army and then in the Royal Canadian Air Force.[3][4] He received a B.A. degree from Queen's University and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. In his career, he worked for Harvard, IBM, I. P. Sharp Associates, and Jsoftware Inc. (née Iverson Software Inc.).
Iverson suffered a stroke while working at the computer on a new J lab on 16 October 2004,[5] and died in Toronto on 19 October 2004 at age 83.[2]