Bert Sutherland

Who is Bert Sutherland?

William Robert "Bert" Sutherland, older brother of Ivan Sutherland, was the longtime manager of three prominent research labs, including Sun Microsystems Laboratories, the Systems Science Laboratory at Xerox PARC, and the Computer Science Division of Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. which helped develop the ARPANET.

In these roles, Sutherland participated in the creation of the personal computer, the technology of advanced microprocessors, the Smalltalk programming language, the Java programming language and the Internet.

Unlike traditional corporate research managers, Sutherland added individuals from fields like psychology, cognitive science, and anthropology to enhance the work of his technology staff. He also directed his scientists to take their research, like the Xerox Alto "personal" computer, outside of the lab to allow people to use it in a corporate setting and to observe their interaction with it.

In addition, Sutherland fostered a collaboration between the Caltech researchers developing techniques of very large-scale integrated circuits – his brother Ivan and Carver Mead – and Lynn Conway of his PARC staff.