Fernando J. Corbató
Computer Scientist, Academic
1926 –
Who is Fernando J. Corbató?
Fernando José "Corby" Corbató is a prominent American computer scientist, notable as a pioneer in the development of time-sharing operating systems.
Amongst many awards, he received the Turing Award in 1990, "for his pioneering work in organizing the concepts and leading the development of the general-purpose, large-scale, time-sharing and resource-sharing computer systems".
The first timesharing system he was associated with was known as the MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System, an early version of which was demonstrated in 1961. The experience gained led to a second project, Multics, which was adopted by Honeywell. Multics, while not particularly commercially successful in itself, directly inspired Ken Thompson to develop Unix, the direct descendants of which are still in extremely wide use; it also served as a model for every other subsequent operating system design.
Born in Oakland, California, Corbató received a bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1950, and then a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956. He joined MIT's Computation Center immediately upon graduation, became a professor in 1965, and stayed at MIT until he retired.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Jul 1, 1926
Oakland - Also known as
- Fernando J. Corbato
- Fernando José "Corby" Corbato
- Spouses
- Children
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Bachelor's degree, California Institute of Technology
( - 1950) - Doctorate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Physics
( - 1956)
- Bachelor's degree, California Institute of Technology
- Employment
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(1965 - ) - M.I.T. Computation Center
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Fernando J. Corbató." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/fernando_j_corbato>.
Discuss this Fernando J. Corbató biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In