Editing Butler Lampson

{{Short description|American computer scientist}}

{{Infobox scientist
| image = Butler_Lampson_Royal_Society (cropped).jpg
| caption = Lampson in 2018
| name = Butler Lampson
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS}}
| birth_date              = {{birth date and age|1943|12|23}} 
| birth_place             = Washington, D.C.
| death_date              = 
| death_place             = 
| residence               = 
| citizenship             =
| nationality             = 
| ethnicity               =
| field                   = [[Computer science]]
| work_institution        = [[University of California, Berkeley]]<br>[[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]]<br>[[Digital Equipment Corporation]]<br>[[Microsoft]]<br>[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| education               = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Master of Science|MS]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| thesis_title            = Scheduling and Protection in an Interactive Multi-Processor System
| thesis_url             = http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b14306499
| thesis_year             = 1967
| doctoral_advisor        = [[Harry Huskey]]
| doctoral_students       = 
| known_for               = [[SDS 940]], [[Xerox Alto]]
| prizes                  = {{Plainlist|
* [[Turing Award]] (1992)
* [[ACM Fellow]] (1994)
* [[IEEE John von Neumann Medal]] (2001)
* [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences]] (2005)
* [[Charles Stark Draper Prize|Draper Prize]] (2004)
* [[Foreign Member of the Royal Society]] (2018)}}
| website                 = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20081202174014/http://research.microsoft.com/lampson/|research.microsoft.com/lampson}} <small>(archived)</small>
| footnotes               = 
}}

'''Butler W. Lampson''' (born December 23, 1943) is an American [[computer scientist]] best known for his contributions to the development and implementation of distributed [[personal computer|personal computing]].

==Education and early life==
After graduating from the [[Lawrenceville School]] (where in 2009 he was awarded the Aldo Leopold Award, also known as the Lawrenceville Medal, Lawrenceville's highest award to alumni), Lampson received an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] in [[physics]] (''magna cum laude'' with highest honors in the discipline) from [[Harvard University]] in 1964 and a [[PhD]] in [[electrical engineering]] and computer science from the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 1967.

==Career and research==
[[File:Professional Developers Conference 2009 Technical Leaders Panel 6.jpg|thumb|right|Professional Developers Conference 2009 Technical Leaders Panel]]
During the 1960s, Lampson and others were part of [[Project Genie|Project GENIE]] at UC Berkeley. In 1965, several Project GENIE members, specifically Lampson and [[L. Peter Deutsch|Peter Deutsch]], developed the [[Berkeley Timesharing System]] for [[Scientific Data Systems]]' [[SDS 940]] computer. After completing his doctorate, Lampson stayed on at UC Berkeley as an assistant professor (1967–1970) and associate professor (1970–1971) of computer science. For a period of time, he concurrently served as director of system development for the Berkeley Computer Corporation (1969–1971).

In 1971, Lampson became one of the founding members of [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]], where he worked in the Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) as a principal scientist (1971–1975) and senior research fellow (1975–1983). His now-famous vision of a [[personal computer]] was captured in the 1972 memo entitled "Why Alto?".<ref>[http://www.digibarn.com/friends/butler-lampson/index.html DigiBarn Computer Museum: Why Alto? Butler Lampson's Historic 1972 Memo<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>  In 1973, the [[Xerox Alto]], with its three-button [[computer mouse|mouse]] and full-page-sized [[computer monitor|monitor]], was born.<ref name=altopc>{{Citation
 | title = Alto: a personal computer
 | url = http://research.microsoft.com/Lampson/25-Alto/25-AltoOCR.htm
 | year = 1982
 | journal = Computer Structures: Principles and Examples
 | pages = 549–572
 | last1 = Thacker	 | first1 =  C.P. | author-link1 = Charles P. Thacker
 | last2 =  McCreight	 | first2 =  E.M. | author-link2 = Edward M. McCreight
 | last3 =  Lampson	 | first3 =  B.W. | author-link3 = Butler Lampson
 | last4 =  Sproull	 | first4 =  R.F. | author-link4 = Bob Sproull
 | last5 =  Boggs	 | first5 =  D.R. | author-link5 = David Boggs
 | access-date = 2010-09-02	}}</ref>
It is now considered to be the first actual personal computer in terms of what has become the "canonical" GUI mode of operation.

All the subsequent computers built at Xerox PARC except for the "Dolphin" (used in the Xerox 1100 LISP machine) and the "Dorado" (used in the Xerox 1132 LISP machine) followed a general blueprint called "Wildflower", written by Lampson, and this included the D-Series Machines: the "Dandelion" (used in the [[Xerox Star]] and Xerox 1108 LISP machine), "Dandetiger" (used in the Xerox 1109 LISP machine), "Daybreak" ([[Xerox Daybreak|Xerox 6085]]), and "Dicentra" (used internally to control various specialized hardware devices).

At PARC, Lampson helped work on many other revolutionary technologies, such as [[laser printing|laser printer]] design; [[two-phase commit protocol]]s; [[Bravo (software)|Bravo]], the first [[WYSIWYG]] [[typesetting|text formatting]] program; and [[Ethernet]], the first high-speed [[local area network]] (LAN).  He designed several influential programming languages such as [[Euclid (programming language)|Euclid]].

Following the acrimonious resignation of Xerox PARC CSL manager [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Bob Taylor]] in 1983, Lampson and [[Chuck Thacker]] followed Taylor colleague to [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s [[DEC Systems Research Center|Systems Research Center]]. There, he was a senior consulting engineer (1984–1986), corporate consulting engineer (1986–1993) and senior corporate consulting engineer (1993–1995). Shortly before Taylor's retirement, Lampson left to work for [[Microsoft Research]] as an architect (1995–1999), distinguished engineer (2000–2005) and technical fellow (2005–present).

Since 1987, Lampson has been an [[Adjunct professors in North America|adjunct professor]] of electrical engineering and computer science at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].

===Honors and awards===
* In 1984, he was elected a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]].
* In 1984, he won the ACM Software System Award for the [[Xerox Alto|Alto]], along with [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert W. Taylor]], and [[Charles P. Thacker]].
* In 1986, he received an honorary Sc.D. from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich.
* In 1992, he won the prestigious [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]] [[Turing Award]] for his contributions to personal computing and [[computer science]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Levin|first1=Roy|title=Butler W Lampson - A.M. Turing Award Winner|url=http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/lampson_1142421.cfm|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref>
* In 1993, he became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
* In 1994, he was inducted as a [[Fellow]] of the [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]]. 
* In 1996, he received the [[IEEE Computer Pioneer Award]].
* In 1996, he received an honorary Sc.D. from the University of Bologna. 
* In 2001, he received the [[IEEE John von Neumann Medal]].<ref>{{cite web|title=IEEE John von Neumann Medal Recipients|url=http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/vonneumann_recipients.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408002231/http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/vonneumann_recipients.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2010|publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref>
* In 2004, he won the [[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] along with [[Alan Kay|Alan C. Kay]], [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert W. Taylor]], and [[Charles P. Thacker]] for their work on [[Xerox Alto|Alto]].<ref>{{cite web|title=2004 Winners: Alan C. Kay, Butler W. Lampson, Robert W. Taylor, and Charles P. Thacker|url=http://www.draperprize.org/2004.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017013028/http://www.draperprize.org/2004.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 October 2009|publisher=National Academy of Engineering|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> 
* In 2005, he was elected a [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/53513.html|title=Butler W. Lampson}}</ref> 
* In 2006, he was inducted as a Fellow of the [[Computer History Museum]] "for fundamental contributions to computer science, including networked personal workstations, operating systems, computer security and document publishing." [[Computer History Museum]] Fellow (2006).<ref name=hallbio>{{Cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Butler,Lampson/ |title=Butler Lampson 2006 Fellow |access-date=2015-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103005158/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Butler,Lampson/ |archive-date=2015-01-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 2006, he received the IFIP TC11 Kristian Beckman Award for information security.
* In 2016, he was inducted into the [[National Cyber Security Hall of Fame]].
* In 2018, he was elected as a [[Foreign Member of the Royal Society]].

===Quotes===
Lampson is often quoted as saying "[[Fundamental theorem of software engineering|Any problem in computer science can be solved with another level of indirection]]", but in his Turing Award Lecture in 1993, Lampson himself attributes this saying to [[David Wheeler (computer scientist)|David Wheeler]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://research.microsoft.com/Lampson/Slides/TuringLecture.doc |title=Principles for Computer System Design |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221210039/http://research.microsoft.com/Lampson/Slides/TuringLecture.doc |archive-date=2007-02-21 |author=Butler Lampson}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081202174014/http://research.microsoft.com/lampson/ Lampson's website]
* [http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/m/milliLampson.html The milliLampson unit]
* Butler Lampson. [http://hdl.handle.net/11299/169983 Oral history interview], 11 December 2014, Cambridge, Massachusetts. [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota

{{Turing award}}
{{Charles Stark Draper Prize}}
{{FRS 2018}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lampson, Butler}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:Computer designers]]
[[Category:Engineers from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Draper Prize winners]]
[[Category:Turing Award laureates]]
[[Category:Microsoft technical fellows]]
[[Category:Digital Equipment Corporation people]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Lawrenceville School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century American engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century American scientists]]
[[Category:Scientists at PARC (company)]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty]]
[[Category:Kernel programmers]]