Michael Dertouzos

Michael Leonidas Dertouzos Μιχαήλ Λεωνίδας Δερτούζος
Born	November 5, 1936 Athens, Greece[1]
Died	August 27, 2001[1] Boston, USA[1]
Occupation	Academic

Michael Leonidas Dertouzos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Λεωνίδας Δερτούζος) (November 5, 1936 - August 27, 2001) was a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) from 1974 to 2001.

During Dertouzos's term, LCS innovated in a variety of areas, including RSA encryption, the spreadsheet, the NuBus, the X Window System, and the Internet. Dertouzos was instrumental in defining the World Wide Web Consortium and bringing it to MIT. He was a firm supporter of the GNU Project, Richard Stallman, and the FSF, and their continued presence at MIT.

In 1968, he founded Computek, Inc., a manufacturer of graphics and intelligent terminals.

Dertouzos was a graduate of Athens College and attended the University of Arkansas on a Fulbright Scholarship. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1964 and joined the M.I.T. faculty. He was buried in Athens, at the First Cemetery^[1].

Quotes

We made a big mistake 300 years ago when we separated technology and humanism. ... It's time to put the two back together.

—Michael Dertouzos, Scientific American, July 1997

^[2]

The potential of the modern information age seems overshadowed at every turn by the ancient forces that separate the rich from the poor.

—Michael Dertouzos, 1999

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} MIT colleagues attend Dertouzos funeral in Hellas(Greece) - MIT News Office
2. ^ Leutwyler, K. (1997) Profile: Michael L. Dertouzos – What Will Really Be, Scientific American 277(1), 28-29.

External links

• Oral history interview with Michael L. Dertouzos. Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota. Dertouzos discusses his research in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Project MAC's change under his direction to the Laboratory for Computer Science. The bulk of the interview concerns MIT's relationship with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and its Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO). Topics include: time-sharing, distributive systems, networking, multiprocessing, the ARPANET, and Robert Kahn's directorship of IPTO.
• Biography on KurzweilAI.net

Bibliography

• Dertouzos, The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do For Us, 2001, ISBN 0-06-662067-8.
• Dertouzos, What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives, 1997, ISBN 0-06-251479-2.
• K. Warwick "Scrubbing the future clean", Review of 'What will be' by Michael Dertouzos, New Scientist, p. 44, 9 August 1997.
• "Communications, Computers and Networks", in Scientific American Special Issue on Communications, Computers, and Networks, September, 1991
• (co-author), Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge, 1989, ISBN 0-262-04100-6.

Persondata
Name	Dertouzos, Michael L.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 5, 1936
Place of birth	Athens, Greece
Date of death	August 27, 2001
Place of death	Boston, USA