Media Contacts: Brittany Fraser KCSA Strategic

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Brittany Fraser
KCSA Strategic Communications for IEEE
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Francine Tardo
IEEE
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John Hopcroft and Jeffrey D. Ullman, Giants of Computer Science, to Receive
2010 IEEE John von Neumann Medal
Defined Key Disciplines That Shape Theoretical Computer Science to this Day
PISCATAWAY, N.J., 17 June 2010 – John Hopcroft and Jeffrey D. Ullman,
engineers and professors whose pioneering research and wide-reaching textbooks
helped build computer science as we know it, are being honored by IEEE with the
2010 IEEE John von Neumann Medal. IEEE is the world’s largest professional
association advancing technology for humanity.
The medal, sponsored by IBM Corporation, recognizes Hopcroft and Ullman for laying
the foundations for the fields of automata and language theory and many seminal
contributions to theoretical computer science. The medal will be presented on 26
June 2010 at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and will be
broadcast live on the Web through IEEE.tv (www.ieee.tv).
Theoretical computer science focuses on the mathematical techniques behind
computing, including the disciplines of automata and formal language theory.
Automata theory involves studying machines (computers) and the problems they can
solve, while formal language theory deals with the words, letters and symbols that
define the programming languages that enable computers to compile data. Hopcroft
and Ullman, both together and individually, have been influential in these areas and
thus in building the foundation of computer science.
These giants of computer science first met in 1964 when Ullman took Hopcroft’s
automata theory course at Princeton University. They continued to work together
after Ullman began his career at Bell Laboratories in 1966 and after accepting a
faculty position at Princeton University in 1969. Together, Hopcroft and Ullman wrote
the book on automata theory and formal languages that was used by universities
around the world to educate the first generation of computer scientists (“Formal
Languages and Their Relation to Automata,” Addison-Wesley, 1969). Its successor,
“Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation,” is still in use today. The pair,
along with co-author Al Aho, also contributed an impactful textbook that helped
define the field of computer algorithms (“The Design and Analysis of Computer
Algorithms,” Addison-Wesley, 1974).
Hopcroft is considered one of only a handful of computer scientists who created the
discipline of theoretical computer science, unifying automata theory and formal
languages during the late 1960s. He also determined that computer programming
could be synthesized into a theory of algorithms and that these algorithms could be
evaluated by their asymptotic complexity. This led to a set of design principles that
could be used to design optimal algorithms. Hopcroft’s current focus is on building a
science base for access to information as well as spectral analysis and signal
extraction from large data sets.
Ullman is also considered one of the most influential individuals involved in building
the field of computer science, with contributions in many key areas. In addition to his
algorithm work with Hopcroft, early on Ullman focused on compiler technology and
code optimization. He wrote what is considered the definitive book on compiler
technology (“Principles of Compiler Design,” Addison-Wesley, 1977) with Aho. In the
late 1970s Ullman’s interests turned to database systems and he became known as
one of the founders of database theory.
An IEEE Fellow, Hopcroft a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Academy of Engineering. He has served on numerous advisory boards
including the U.S. Air Force Science Advisory Board, NASA’s Space Sciences Board
and the National Research Council’s Board on Computer Science and
Telecommunications. In 1986 he was awarded the Turing Award by the Association
for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 1992, President H.W. Bush appointed him to the
National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation. Hopcroft
received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Seattle University, Wash., and his
doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Calif. He is currently the
IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, Ithaca,
N.Y.
Ullman is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the
ACM. He has served on numerous advisory boards including the National Science
Foundation and National Research Council. His awards include the SIGMOD
Contributions Award (1996), the E.F. Codd Innovations Award (2006), the Karlstrom
Award (1998) and the Knuth Prize (2000). Ullman received a bachelor’s degree in
engineering mathematics from Columbia University, New York, N.Y., and a doctorate
in electrical engineering from Princeton University, N.J. He is the Stanford W.
Ascherman Professor of Computer Science (Emeritus) at Stanford University, Calif.,
and currently heads Gradiance Corporation, Stanford, which he founded to provide
online homework and programming-lab support for college students.
About IEEE
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consumer electronics. Learn more at http://www.ieee.org.
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