Per Brinch Hansen
Encyclopedia
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
known for concurrent programming theory.
Biography
He was born in FrederiksbergFrederiksberg
Frederiksberg Kommune is a municipality on the island of Zealand in Denmark. It surrounded by the city of Copenhagen. The municipality, co-extensive with its seat, covers an area of and has a total population of 98,782 making it the smallest municipality in Denmark area-wise, the fifth most...
, in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
Brinch Hansen was one of the pioneers of concurrent programming and operating systems (kernels)
Monolithic kernel
A monolithic kernel is an operating system architecture where the entire operating system is working in the kernel space and alone as supervisor mode...
. He coined the then-Danish word for computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
: Datamat (English: datamaton). In the 1960s, Brinch Hansen worked at the Danish computer company Regnecentralen
Regnecentralen
Regnecentralen, or RC for short, was the first Danish computer company, founded on October 12, 1955. Through the 1950s and 60s they designed a series of computers, originally for their own use, and later to be sold commercially. Descendants of these systems sold well into the 1980s...
, first in the compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
group headed by Peter Naur
Peter Naur
Peter Naur is a Danish pioneer in computer science and Turing award winner. His last name is the N in the BNF notation , used in the description of the syntax for most programming languages...
and Jørn Jensen
Jørn Jensen
Jørn Jensen, one of the earliest Danish programmers. Examined as a mechanical engineer and had worked with electromechanical construction. In 1958 employed at the Danish Regnecentralen, and very soon exhibited an extraordinary programming skill...
, and, later, as the chief architect of the RC 4000
RC 4000 Multiprogramming System
The RC 4000 Multiprogramming System was an operating system developed for the RC 4000 minicomputer in 1969. It is historically notable for being the first attempt to break down an operating system into a group of interacting programs communicating via a message passing kernel...
minicomputer
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
and its renowned operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
kernel (RC 4000 Multiprogramming System
RC 4000 Multiprogramming System
The RC 4000 Multiprogramming System was an operating system developed for the RC 4000 minicomputer in 1969. It is historically notable for being the first attempt to break down an operating system into a group of interacting programs communicating via a message passing kernel...
). In 1972, he wrote the first comprehensive textbook on Operating System Principles.
In 1970 his research in computer science focused on concurrent programming: Inspired by Ole-Johan Dahl
Ole-Johan Dahl
Ole-Johan Dahl was a Norwegian computer scientist and is considered to be one of the fathers of Simula and object-oriented programming along with Kristen Nygaard.- Career :...
and Kristen Nygaard
Kristen Nygaard
Kristen Nygaard was a Norwegian computer scientist, programming language pioneer and politician. He was born in Oslo and died of a heart attack in 2002.-Object-oriented programming:...
's programming language Simula 67, he invented the monitor concept
Monitor (synchronization)
In concurrent programming, a monitor is an object or module intended to be used safely by more than one thread. The defining characteristic of a monitor is that its methods are executed with mutual exclusion. That is, at each point in time, at most one thread may be executing any of its methods...
in 1972. In the United States, he also developed the first concurrent programming language, Concurrent Pascal
Concurrent Pascal
Concurrent Pascal was designed by Per Brinch Hansen for writing concurrent computing programs such asoperating systems and real-time monitoring systems on shared memorycomputers....
, in 1975. In 1977, he wrote the first book on Concurrent Programming: The Architecture of Concurrent Programs.
More recently, Brinch Hansen documented the historical development of these fundamental areas of computer science. This in part led to his invention, documentation and implementation of the programming language SuperPascal
SuperPascal
Super Pascal is an imperative, concurrent computing programming language developed by Brinch Hansen. It was designed as a publication language: a thinking tool to enable the clear and concise expression of concepts in parallel programming. This is in contrast with implementation languages which are...
and the creation of the concept of a teaching programming language. Per Brinch Hansen also published a well-known paper detailing the inadequacies and pitfalls of Java's parallelism.
In 1987, he became a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in New York State
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. On July 31, 2007, Per Brinch Hansen died of cancer.
Education
Technical University of Denmark
The Technical University of Denmark , often simply referred to as DTU, is a university just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and is today ranked among Europe's leading engineering institutions, and the...
.
Professional experience
- 1963–1970 Systems Programmer, Regnecentralen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 1967–1970 Head of Software Development, Regnecentralen
- 1970–1972 Research Associate, Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
- 1972–1976 Associate Professor, California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
- 1976–1982 Professor, University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
- 1982–1984 Henry Salvatori Professor, University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
- 1984–1987 Professor, University of CopenhagenUniversity of CopenhagenThe University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, Denmark - 1987–2007 Distinguished Professor, Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
Honors and awards
- 1978 Doctor Technices, Technical University of DenmarkTechnical University of DenmarkThe Technical University of Denmark , often simply referred to as DTU, is a university just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and is today ranked among Europe's leading engineering institutions, and the...
, for The Architecture of Concurrent Programs - 1985 IEEE FellowIEEE FellowAn IEEE member is elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow for "unusual distinction in the profession and shall be conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest"...
- 1989 Chancellor's Medal, Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
- 2002 IEEE Computer Pioneer AwardIEEE Computer Pioneer awardThe Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 by the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society to recognize and honor the vision of those people whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry...
, for pioneering development in operating systems and concurrent programming exemplified by work on the RC 4000 multiprogramming system, monitors, and Concurrent Pascal
Quotations
- Writing is a rigorous test of simplicity: It is just not possible to write convincingly about ideas that cannot be understood
- Programming is the art of writing essays in crystal clear prose and making them executable