1922 - 2001
Alan Perlis was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in the field of programming languages and software engineering. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and received the first Turing Award in 1966 for his contributions to the development of compilers and programming languages, particularly for his insights on recursion and programming techniques. Perlis was also known for his wit and published a collection of his sayings on the nature of programming and computing.