Edsger Dijkstra Rank
About Edsger Dijkstra
Former intellectual giant in computer science, Edsger Dijkstra was best known for developing the shortest-path algorithm and for co-designing the original version of Algol 60, which was one of the first computer programs to understand and translate human instructions.
Early Years
Dijkstra was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. His father was a chemist and his mother was a mathematician. He attended the University of Leiden to study mathematics and physics, but soon grew interested in computer science and got a job as one of the first programmers in the Netherlands. He taught for over 40 years, and wrote 6 books and over 20 academic articles.
Awards and Recognition
Throughout his lifetime, Dijkstra won several awards, including:
- Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- 1972 Turing Award
- 1974 Harry H. Goode Memorial Award
- Honorary doctorate degrees from Queen’s University Belfast and the Athens University of Economics & Business.
- 1989 ACM/SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education
- 2002 ACM PODC Influential Paper Award (it was renamed Dijkstra Prize after his death)
Personal Life
Dijsktra married Maria Debets in 1957 and had three children: Marcus, Femke and Rutger. The latter followed in his father’s footstep and became a computer scientist.
Edsger Dijkstra passed away from cancer in 2002.
Edsger Dijkstra Rank
F.A.Q. about Edsger Dijkstra
When is his birthday?
Edsger Dijkstra's birthday is on May 11, 1930.
In how many days is his birthday?
Edsger's birthday is in 16 days
How old was Edsger when he died?
He was 72 years old.
When did he die?
He died in August 6, 2002.
How old would he be today?
Edsger Dijkstra would be 93 years old if he was alive today.