Ken Thompson Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Ken Thompson Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
About Ken ThompsonKenneth Lane Thompson was born on February 4, 1943, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.From his childhood, Ken Thompson was intrigued by logic, that led him to gradually develop an interest in computer programming. Due to his interest in computer programming, Ken Thompson earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1965, and a Master’s degree in 1966, in the same fields of engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, USA.At the university, he met Professor Elwyn Ralph Berlekamp, who was a professor of mathematics and computer science. Ken Thompson has stated that he was the biggest teacher influence in his life. It was during his senior year that Ken Thompson met Elwyn Berlekamp for the first time, when Berlekamp taught a semester course on operating systems. Elwyn Berlekamp was a genius in computer science, coding theory, and combinatorial game theory. He fueled Ken Thompson’s interest in these domains with his valuable teachings.Ken Thompson and Elwyn Berlekamp were reportedly fond of each other and played computer games together. When Ken Thompson started programming games on the university computer at the University of California, Berkeley, which he could only access after midnight, Berlekamp would be there to rectify errors in Thompson’s work. They reportedly had such a deep bond that Berlekamp was the one who recommended Ken Thompson to Bell Labs’ recruiter. Thompson started his career with Bell Labs and worked there for the next 34 years of his life. After that, he joined Entrisphere, Inc. and worked there until 2006. After that, he joined Google and continued working as a computer engineer.Ken Thompson co-invented Unix operating system, the world’s most important operating system, B programming language, and Plan 9 operating system. He received the Turing Award, along with his colleague Dennis Ritchie, for the development and implementation of the Unix operating system. He is also a co-creator of the Go Programming language, which is one of the most dependent and efficient programming languages. Along with this, he is also accredited for remarkable work on early computer text editors, QED and ed, computer chess, and the designing of UTF-8 encoding. He created endgame tablebases that contain an in-depth analysis of chess endgame positions. These tablebases are used by computer engines and humans while analyzing a chess game that has been played. Furthermore, he was also the co-creator of Belle, a chess computer, which was created at Bell Labs in 1983.Ken Thompson developed the software of Belle, and Joe Condon developed its hardware. The immensity of Ken Thompson’s skills can be estimated from the fact that Belle achieved master-level play with a United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating of 2250. It was the first machine to achieve such master-level play.Ken Thompson Net Worth, Earnings & Spending HabitsWhat is Ken Thompson’s net worth?Ken Thompson, the developer of Unix operating system, has a net worth of $15 million.How much does Ken Thompson earn per year?Being an eminent computer engineer and the developer of the Unix operating system, Ken Thompson earns an estimated annual income of $400,000.Height, Age & Physical AttributesHow tall is Ken Thompson?Ken Thompson is 5 ft 6 in (171 cm) tall.How old is Ken Thompson?Ken Thompson was born on February 4, 1943, so he turned 79 years old in February 2022.Childhood And EducationKenneth Lane Thompson was born on February 4, 1943 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. His mother’s name was Clara Thompson. As there is very little available information about Ken Thompson’s early life, the name of his father, siblings, and school remain unknown.Right from his childhood, Ken Thompson was intrigued by logic. Consequently, he began solving arithmetic problems in binary at a young age, while he was in school. To further pursue his interest, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1965, followed by a Master’s degree in 1966. He earned both degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. There he met Elwyn Berlekamp, a professor, whom he considers as the most important teacher influence in his life. Thompson first met Berlekamp when he went to the university to teach a course on operating systems. Ken Thompson is so fond of Elwyn Berlekamp that he nominated him for the IEEE medal of honor. Berlekamp helped Thompson start his career by getting him recruited at Bell Labs.Family, Romance And RelationshipsWho is Ken Thompson’s partner?Ken Thompson is married to a woman named Bonnie and they have a son named Cory.Career And Professional HighlightsBest Known For…Ken Thompson is best known for the development of the Unix operating system, B programming language; the precursor to the creation of the widely used programming language, C. He is also known for the development of computer chess. He did most of his famous work while working at Bell Labs.Ken Thompson started working at Bell Labs after graduating from college. There, he started working on the Multics project. Multics operating system was jointly developed by research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bell Labs, and General Electric Co. As Thompson loved playing games, he wrote an electronic game named ‘Space Travel’, to play on Multics. However, AT&T corporation, the parent company of Bell Labs, withdrew from the Multics project. Thompson wanted to play ‘Space Travel’, so he tried using Bell Lab’s old PDP-7 minicomputer. While making his attempts to play the game on PDP-7, Thompson ended up with the co-creation of the Unix operating system, with his colleague Dennis Ritchie. The Unix operating system is a family of multitasking, multiuser operating systems. Further, Thompson and Ritchie also deserve the credit for co inventing the B programming language in 1970. They invented the B programming language for writing Unix when Fortran and BCPL, a language from the Multics project, did not lead to the intended results.However, when Thompson and Ritchie started using the PDP-11 minicomputer in the ’70s, they observed that the B programming language had many shortcomings. Consequently, Dennis Ritchie developed the C programming language and after that, he and Thompson together wrote the Unix system in C in 1973.Further, Thompson also played a pivotal role in the development of computer chess. He wrote the first chess-playing program in 1971 for the first version of the Unix system. After that, he invented Belle, the first world champion chess computer. Belle achieved a USCF rating of 2250 in 1980.Later on, he assisted in the development of a new operating system, known as Plan 9, at Bell Labs. This operating system was based on the principles and key ideas employed in the Unix operating system, but it had an added potential to be used for all major system facilities. In 1992, Thompson developed the UTF-8 encoding scheme with Rob Pike, his colleague at Bell Labs. He was also actively involved in the creation of the Inferno operating system.After spending 34 years at Bell Labs, Thompson retired from the company on December 1, 2000. Then, he worked at Entrisphere Inc. as a fellow, for the next six years of his life. After that, he started working at Google as a Computer Engineer. He is accredited for the co-design of the Go programming language developed by Google.What awards has Ken Thompson won?Ken Thompson has won a plethora of awards in his life. In 1980, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for the development of the Unix operating system. In 1983, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie together received the A.M. Turing award, for the development and implementation of the Unix Operating system. The Turing award is the highest honor in Computer Science.Ken Thompson was also elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1985. In 1990, Thompson and Ritchie together received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the invention of the Unix system and C programming language. In 1997, they both were also inducted as fellows of the Computer History Museum for the development of the Unix system and C programming language.Later, in April 1999, Thompson and Ritchie were awarded the 1998 National Medal of Technology for co-inventing the Unix system and C programming language, from President Bill Clinton. Along with this, Thompson also received the first Tsutomu Kanai award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for co-creating the Unix system. Moreover, in 2011, both Dennis Ritchie and Thompson were awarded the Japan Prize for Information and Communications for the invention of the Unix operating system.Thompson received a great deal of recognition and acclaim for his contribution in the development of the Unix system, as Unix led to enormous advancements in the world of computers.Ken Thompson’s Hobbies And InterestsThompson loves playing and developing games. After the Multics project was closed midway, he and Dennis Ritchie came up with the invention of Unix to play ‘Space Travel’, a game that Thompson aspired to play on Multics operating system. Moreover, he also played games with his mentor, Elwyn Berlekamp and developed games on the university computer at the University of California.Other Interesting Ken Thompson Facts And TriviaKen Thompson is a licensed pilot and also owns a plane.In 1975, Ken Thompson installed Version 6 Unix on a PDP-11/70 at the University of California, his alma mater. This system soon began to be called the Berkeley Software Distribution. The interesting thing to note here is that Thompson took a sabbatical break from Bell Labs for the installation of Unix at the University of California.Ken Thompson spent hours talking to his professor, Elwyn Berlekamp, at the University of California, Berkeley. They also regularly played games together.Ken Thompson reportedly doesn’t like the programming language, C++. In an interview, he said that C++ is a bad language, that C++ has its good points, but ‘it does a lot of things half well and it’s just a garbage heap of ideas that are mutually exclusive’.We would love your help! If you have a photo of Ken Thompson, either of them alone or a selfie that you would be happy to share, please send it to [email protected].If you have knowledge or information that you think would help us improve this article, please contact us.
Ken Thompson Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Ken Thompson Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
Kenneth Lane Thompson was born on February 4, 1943, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Ken Thompson Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Ken Thompson Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Birth Name Kenneth Lane Thompson
Place Of Birth New Orleans, USA Age 80 years old
Birth Date February 4 1943
Ken Thompson Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
Ken Thompson Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
Child Star? no Occupation Computer Engineer, Scientist Education & Qualifications University of California, Berkeley Net Worth $15,000,000
Current Partner Bonnie Children Cory Parents Clara Thompson
