Thomas Eugene Kurtz (born February 22, 1928) is an American
computer scientistA computer scientist is a person who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who co-developed the BASIC programming language in 1963/64 together with
John George KemenyJohn George Kemeny , was a Hungarian-American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator best known for co-developing the BASIC programming language in 1964 with Thomas Eugene Kurtz....
.
In 1951, Dr. Kurtz’s first experience with computing came at the Summer Session of the Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA. His interests have included
numerical analysisNumerical analysis is the study of algorithms for the problems of continuous mathematics .One of the earliest mathematical writings is the Babylonian tablet YBC 7289, which gives a sexagesimal numerical approximation of , the length of the diagonal in a unit square.Being able to compute the sides...
,
statisticsStatistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with collecting and interpreting data. According to other definitions, it is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. Statisticians improve the quality of data with the...
, and
computer scienceComputer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that create, describe and transform...
ever since.
Dr. Kurtz graduated from Knox College in 1950, and received his Ph.
Thomas Eugene Kurtz (born February 22, 1928) is an American
computer scientistA computer scientist is a person who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who co-developed the BASIC programming language in 1963/64 together with
John George KemenyJohn George Kemeny , was a Hungarian-American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator best known for co-developing the BASIC programming language in 1964 with Thomas Eugene Kurtz....
.
In 1951, Dr. Kurtz’s first experience with computing came at the Summer Session of the Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA. His interests have included
numerical analysisNumerical analysis is the study of algorithms for the problems of continuous mathematics .One of the earliest mathematical writings is the Babylonian tablet YBC 7289, which gives a sexagesimal numerical approximation of , the length of the diagonal in a unit square.Being able to compute the sides...
,
statisticsStatistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with collecting and interpreting data. According to other definitions, it is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. Statisticians improve the quality of data with the...
, and
computer scienceComputer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that create, describe and transform...
ever since.
Dr. Kurtz graduated from Knox College in 1950, and received his Ph. D. from
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
in 1956, where his advisor was
John TukeyJohn Wilder Tukey was an American statistician.- Biography :Tukey was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1915, and obtained a B.A. in 1936 and M.Sc. in 1937, in chemistry, from Brown University, before moving to Princeton University where he received a Ph.D...
, and joined the Mathematics Department of
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
that same year. In 1963/64, Dr. Kurtz and Kemeny developed the first version of the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System, a time-sharing system for university use, and the BASIC[B] language.
From 1966-1975, Dr. Kurtz served as Director of the Kiewit Computation Center at Dartmouth, and from 1975-1978, Director of the Office of Academic Computing. From 1980-1988 Dr. Kurtz was Director of the Computer and Information Systems program at Dartmouth, a ground-breaking multidisciplinary graduate program to develop IS leaders for industry. Subsequently Dr. Kurtz returned to teaching full-time as a Professor of Mathematics, with an emphasis on statistics and computer science.
Dr. Kurtz has also served as Council Chairman and Trustee of EDUCOM, as well as Trustee and Chairman of NERComP, and on the Pierce Panel of the President's Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Kurtz also served on the steering committees for the CONDUIT project and the CCUC conferences on instructional computing. In 1991, the Computer Society honored Dr. Kurtz with the Computer Pioneer Award and in 1994 he was inducted as a
FellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes...
of the
Association for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
.