Edsger W. Dijkstra

Dutch computer scientist (1930–2002)

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (May 11, 1930 – August 6, 2002; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛtsxər ˈwibə ˈdɛɪkstra]  ( listen)) was a Dutch computer scientist. He received the 1972 Turing Award for fundamental contributions to developing programming languages, and was the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin from 1984 until 2000.

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Born(1930-05-11)May 11, 1930
DiedAugust 6, 2002(2002-08-06) (aged 72)
Known forDijkstra's algorithm
Structured programming
THE multiprogramming system
Semaphore
AwardsTuring Award
Association for Computing Machinery
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsMathematisch Centrum
Eindhoven University of Technology
The University of Texas at Austin
Doctoral advisorAdriaan van Wijngaarden
Doctoral studentsNico Habermann
Martin Rem
David Naumann
Cornelis Hemerik
Jan Tijmen Udding
Johannes van de Snepscheut
Antonetta van Gasteren

Shortly before his death in 2002, he received the ACM PODC Influential Paper Award in distributed computing for his work on self-stabilization of program computation. This annual award was renamed the Dijkstra Prize the following year, in his honor.