John E. Warnock (October 6, 1940 - August 19, 2023) was an American computer scientist who co-founded Adobe Inc. in 1982 with Charles Geschke, after working together at Xerox PARC on the Interpress page description language and earlier at Evans and Sutherland on computer graphics. Warnock invented the PostScript language and later the Portable Document Format (PDF), technologies that reshaped desktop publishing and document exchange, and he served as Adobe's president, then as chairman and chief executive for sixteen years before stepping down as CEO in 2001. He held degrees in mathematics, philosophy, and electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Utah.
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AwardComputer History Museum Fellow 1 AwardNational Medal of Technology and Innovation 1 AwardACM Software System Award 1 John Warnock
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How did PostScript lead to desktop publishing?
Combined with Apple hardware in 1985 PostScript formed the first desktop publishing system.
Warnock and Charles Geschke started Adobe after Xerox declined to pursue their Interpress page description language, and their work evolved into PostScript. In 1985, PostScript was combined with hardware from Apple Computer to form the first desktop publishing system. It let nearly anyone compose documents electronically and print them as they appeared on the screen.
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Source PostScript (Wikipedia)
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1. Wikidata: John Warnock
Wikidata Q1344392, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source PostScript (Wikipedia)
Invented: PostScript, Lead sentence, creatorsQuote, Invented: PostScript, Lead sentence, creators
PostScript was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug Brotz, Ed Taft and Bill Paxton from 1982 to 1984.
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