Editing Jeff Rulifson

{{Short description|American computer scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Jeff Rulifson
|image             = Jeff Rulifson photograph.jpg
|image_size        = 250px
|alt               = 
|caption           = Jeff Rulifson in 2008
|birth_date        = 1941
|birth_place       = {{birth date and age|1941|08|20}}
|death_date        = 
|death_place       = 
|residence         = 
|citizenship       = 
|nationality       = [[People of the United States|American]]
|ethnicity         = 
|fields            = [[Computer science]]
|workplaces        = [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]]<br>[[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]]<br>[[ROLM]]<br>[[Sun Microsystems]]<br>[[Syntelligence]]
|alma_mater        = [[University of Washington]]<br/>[[Stanford University]]
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|academic_advisors = 
|doctoral_students = 
|notable_students  = 
|known_for         = Development of the [[NLS (computer system)|oN-Line System]] (NLS)
|author_abbrev_bot = 
|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|awards            = 
|footnotes         = 
}}
'''Johns Frederick (Jeff) Rulifson''' (born August 20, 1941) is an American [[computer scientist]].

==Early life and education==
Johns Frederick Rulifson was born August 20, 1941, in [[Bellefontaine, Ohio]]. His father was Erwin Charles Rulifson and mother was Virginia Helen Johns. Rulifson married Janet Irving on June 8, 1963, and had two children.<ref name="mouse">{{cite web |title= Johns Frederick (Jeff) Rulifson |work= Biographical Sketches |publisher= Stanford University |date= November 9, 1996 |url= http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/JeffRulifson/jfr.html |accessdate= April 15, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722132028/http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/JeffRulifson/jfr.html |archive-date= July 22, 2011 |url-status= dead }}</ref> He received a [[B.S.]] in [[mathematics]] from the [[University of Washington]] in 1966.<ref name="mouse"/> Rulifson earned a Ph.D. in computer science from [[Stanford University]] in 1973.<ref name="mouse" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computer.org/csdl/trans/tc/1976/08/01674697.pdf|title=IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTERS, VOL. c-25, NO. 8, AUGUST 1976|access-date=2018-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406040915/https://www.computer.org/csdl/trans/tc/1976/08/01674697.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Career==
Rulifson joined the [[Augmentation Research Center]], at the Stanford Research Institute (now [[SRI International]]) in 1966, working on a form of software called “timesharing”. He led the software team that implemented the [[NLS (computer system)|oN-Line System]] (NLS), a system that foreshadowed many future developments in modern computing and networking.<ref name="hof">{{cite web|url=http://www.sri.com/about/alumni/alumni-hall-fame-2006#Rulifson|title=Johns Frederick (Jeff) Rulifson|work=SRI Hall of fame|publisher=[[SRI International]]|accessdate=2013-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701192553/http://www.sri.com/about/alumni/alumni-hall-fame-2006#Rulifson|archive-date=2013-07-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> Specifically, Rulifson developed the command language for the NLS, among other features.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTyfxP-g2IIC&pg=PT237 | title=What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal ComputerIndustry| isbn=9781101201084| last1=Markoff| first1=John| date=2005-04-21| publisher=Penguin}}</ref> His first job was to create the first display-based on the CDC 3100, and the programs he wrote included the first online editor. He also redesigned its file structure.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bootstrapping00thie | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/bootstrapping00thie/page/122 122] | title=Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing| publisher=Stanford University Press | isbn=9780804738712| last1=Bardini| first1=Thierry| year=2000}}</ref> Rulifson was also lead programmer<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768481.stm|title = The mouse hits 40-year milestone|date = 9 December 2008}}</ref> and wrote the program and demonstration files for the first public demonstration of the computer mouse in 1968.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6IVACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA462 | title=Handbook of Research on Estimation and Control Techniques in E-Learning Systems| isbn=9781466694903| last1=Mkrttchian| first1=Vardan| date=2015-12-22| publisher=IGI Global}}</ref> He was also the chief programmer of the first use of hypertext.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=1055 |title=Ted Nelson Coins the Terms Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Hyperlink (1965) : HistoryofInformation.com |access-date=2018-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628225943/http://historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=1055 |archive-date=2017-06-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Although [[Douglas Engelbart]] was the founder and leader of ARC, Rulifson's innovative programming was essential to the realization of Engelbart's vision. Rulifson was also involved in the development of NIL.<ref>{{Cite web|title=HOST-HOST communication protocol in the ARPA network|author1=C. Carr|author2=S. Crocker|author2-link=Steve Crocker|author3=V. Cerf|author3-link=Vint Cerf|doi=10.1145/1476936.1477024|url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1476936.1477024|quote=Several people deserve acknowledgment in this effort. J. Rulifson and W. Duvall of SRI participated in the early design effort of the protocol and in the discussions of NIL.}}</ref>
Rulifson was the SRI's representative to the "network working group" in 1968,<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9BfZxFZpElwC&pg=PA59 |title = Inventing the Internet|isbn = 9780262261333|last1 = Abbate|first1 = Janet|author-link = Janet Abbate|date = 2000-07-24| publisher=MIT Press }}</ref> which led to the first connection on the [[ARPANET]].{{Ref RFC|1}} He described the Decode-Encode Language (DEL), which was designed to allow remote use of NLS over ARPANET.{{Ref RFC|5}} Although never used, the idea was small "programs" would be down-loaded to enhance user interaction. This concept was fully developed in [[Sun Microsystems]]'s [[Java (programming language)|Java programming language]] almost 30 years later, as [[applet]]s.{{Ref RFC|2555}} Simultaneously, he was involved in the development of the AI programming language QA4. This system was used for the planning done by Shakey, one of the first robots.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubviWXXcrvoC&pg=PA180 | title=Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Second, Enlarged Edition| isbn=9780486152721| last1=Jackson| first1=Philip C.| date=2013-02-19| publisher=Courier Corporation}}</ref>

He left SRI to join the System Sciences Laboratory (SSL) within [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]] in 1973.<ref name="mouse" /> Here he began work on personal computing and the creation of local networks.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzbSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT220 | title=History of Technology| isbn=9781350018976| last1=Inkster| first1=Ian| date=2016-09-30| publisher=Bloomsbury}}</ref> One of his first actions was to develop the concept for the desktop icon.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2y4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA35 | title=InfoWorld| publisher=InfoWorld Media Group| date=1985-05-13}}</ref> By 1978 he was the manager of the center's Office Research Group, where he introduced the use of interdisciplinary scholars into the group's work.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HuC9Zf7IRywC&pg=PA2 |title = Making Work Visible: Ethnographically Grounded Case Studies of Work Practice|isbn = 9780521190725|last1 = Szymanski|first1 = Margaret H.|last2 = Whalen|first2 = Jack|date = 2011-03-31| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Specifically, he was the first computer scientist to begin working alongside anthropologists, hiring several at Xerox to improve their use of field research<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E42AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 | title=Subversion, Conversion, Development: Cross-Cultural Knowledge Exchange and the Politics of Design| isbn=9780262525831| last1=Leach| first1=James| last2=Wilson| first2=Lee| date=2014-04-25| publisher=MIT Press}}</ref> and enter the field of social science research.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfG6r7kTl7oC&pg=RA3-PT108 |title = Interdisciplinarity: Reconfigurations of the Social and Natural Sciences|isbn = 978-1136658457|last1 = Barry|first1 = Andrew|last2 = Born|first2 = Georgina|date = 2013-06-26| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

At PARC, he worked on implementing distributed office systems. In 1980, he worked for [[ROLM]] as an engineering manager and joined Syntelligence, an artificial intelligence applications vendor in [[Sunnyvale, California]], in 1985.<ref name="mouse"/> He began working for [[Sun Microsystems Laboratories]] in 1987, and held positions including as a director of engineering, technology development, and research groups. He then managed [[Ivan Sutherland]]'s lab from 2003 until his retirement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/january7/sri-010709.html|title=Celebrating the man who invented the mouse|date=10 December 2008}}</ref> He is an emeritus board member of the Doug Engelbart Institute<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dougengelbart.org/about/our-people.html |title=Who We Are - Doug Engelbart Institute |access-date=2018-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406041030/http://www.dougengelbart.org/about/our-people.html |archive-date=2018-04-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Chairman of The Open Group.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.opengroup.org/public/member/q200/rulifson_bio.htm |title=J.F. (Jeff) Rulifson |access-date=2018-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923165743/http://archive.opengroup.org/public/member/q200/rulifson_bio.htm |archive-date=2006-09-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Jeff Rulifsons papers and research from 1956 to 1997 are held at the Computer History Museum, with a guide to his work entitled Guide to the Jeff Rulifson papers, written by Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102733946 |title=Guide to the Jeff Rulifson papers &#124; 102733946 &#124; Computer History Museum |access-date=2018-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406101710/http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102733946 |archive-date=2018-04-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1990, Rulifson won the [[Association for Computing Machinery]]'s [[Software System Award]] for implementing groundbreaking innovations such as [[hypertext]], outline processors, and [[Video teleconference|video conferencing]].<ref>{{cite web |title= 1990 – Jeff Rulifson: NLS |work= Software system award citation |publisher= Association for Computing Machinery |url= http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=8204965&srt=all&aw=149&ao=SOFTWSYS&yr=1990 |accessdate= April 15, 2011 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120402204745/http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=8204965&srt=all&aw=149&ao=SOFTWSYS&yr=1990 |archivedate= April 2, 2012 }}</ref> In 1994, he was inducted as a [[Fellow]] of the Association for Computing Machinery, for his “pioneering work on augmenting human intellect with hypertext, outline processors, and video conferencing.”<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://awards.acm.org/award_winners/rulifson_1481993 |title=Jeff Rulifson |access-date=2018-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102233204/https://awards.acm.org/award_winners/rulifson_1481993 |archive-date=2018-01-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2006 Rulifson was named to the SRI International Hall of Fame.<ref name="hof" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://sites.google.com/site/jfrulifson/ Jeff Rulifson Google homepage]
* {{cite web |title= Invisible Revolution: Jeff Rulifson |work= Video Interview with Frode Hegland and Fleur Klijnsma |url= http://www.invisiblerevolution.net/int-jeff-full-expl.html |accessdate= April 15, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110514135415/http://www.invisiblerevolution.net/int-jeff-full-expl.html |archive-date= May 14, 2011 |url-status= dead }}
*[http://bitsavers.org/pdf/sri/arc/Study_For_The_Development_of_Human_Intellect_Augmentation_Techniques_Mar67/ Augmentation Research Center Status Report, March, 1967]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rulifson, Jeff}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:SRI International people]]
[[Category:University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Bellefontaine, Ohio]]
[[Category:Engineers from Ohio]]