Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Pioneer

Ken Thompson

Software And Its Engineering

Ken Thompson is an American computer scientist who, with Dennis Ritchie, created the Unix operating system at Bell Labs beginning in 1969, and who designed the B programming language that Ritchie developed into C. Thompson and Ritchie shared the 1983 ACM Turing Award for their work on Unix; Thompson later co-created the Go programming language at Google.

Facts
Birth Year
1943 1
Birth Date
1943-02-04 2
Nationality
American 1
Award
Harold Pender Award 3
Award
National Inventors Hall of Fame 3
Award
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal 3
Award
Turing Award 3
Award
ACM Fellow 3
Award
Computer History Museum Fellow 3
Award
Computer Pioneer Award 3
Award
IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award 3
Award
Tsutomu Kanai Award 3
Award
Japan Prize 3
Award
National Medal of Technology and Innovation 3
Award
ACM Software System Award 3
Connections

Associated With

Plan 9 from Bell Labs, Systems
Regular Expression, Concepts
Source Wikipedia: Regular expression
Rob Pike, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Rob Pike

In Field

Operating Systems, Fields
Source Computer History Museum

Invented

B (programming language), Programming Languages
Source Wikidata: B (programming language)
Go, Programming Languages
Source Wikipedia: Go (programming language)
Unix, Systems
Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations

Invented By

Research Unix, Systems
Source Wikidata: Research Unix
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Computer History Museum
Computer History Museum
  • 1997 Fellow citation
    For his co-creation, with Dennis Ritchie, of the UNIX operating system, and for development of the C programming language
  • In Field: Operating Systems
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Ken Thompson
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Early life and education
    Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system.
  • Infobox
    Kenneth Lane Thompson (1943-02-04) February 4, 1943 (age 83), New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
View the Source
3. Ken Thompson (Wikidata)
  • Wikidata P166: Harold Pender Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Harold Pender Award.
  • Wikidata P166: National Inventors Hall of Fame
    Wikidata P166 (award received): National Inventors Hall of Fame.
  • Wikidata P166: IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal
    Wikidata P166 (award received): IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.
  • Wikidata P166: Turing Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Turing Award.
  • Wikidata P166: ACM Fellow
    Wikidata P166 (award received): ACM Fellow.
  • Wikidata P166: Computer History Museum Fellow
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Computer History Museum Fellow.
  • Wikidata P166: Computer Pioneer Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Computer Pioneer Award.
  • Wikidata P166: IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award.
  • Wikidata P166: Tsutomu Kanai Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Tsutomu Kanai Award.
  • Wikidata P166: Japan Prize
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Japan Prize.
  • Wikidata P166: National Medal of Technology and Innovation
    Wikidata P166 (award received): National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
  • Wikidata P166: ACM Software System Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): ACM Software System Award.
View the Source
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing Machinery
  • Citation
    With Dennis M. Ritchie, for their development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for the implementation of the UNIX operating system.
  • Invented: Unix
View the Source
Wikipedia: Go (programming language)
Wikimedia FoundationInvented: Go, History sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Regular expression
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Regular Expression, History section
Quote, Associated With: Regular Expression, History section
Ken Thompson implemented Kleene's notation into the QED text editor around 1968
View the Source
Wikipedia: Rob Pike
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Rob Pike, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Rob Pike, Lead section
With Ken Thompson, he is the co-creator of UTF-8 character encoding.
View the Source
Wikidata: Research Unix
Invented By: Research Unix, Wikidata Q2666693 P178 (developer) claim -> Q1107006 (Ken Thompson); computing atlas pioneer entity 262616, checked 2026-09-28View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.