Turing Award

The AM Turing Award , named after Alan Turing , is presented annually by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to people who have made particular contributions to the development of computer science . It is considered the highest honor in computer science, comparable to the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal .

procedure

A nomination for the Turing Award can be made by any natural person, but in addition to a curriculum vitae of the nominee, it must also contain a letter of reason (200 to 500 words) and at least three substantial letters of support from prominent representatives of the respective department. Although long-term influences of the creative process are taken into account, the proposed person should have achieved an individual achievement to be emphasized. The proposals are examined in a committee, which usually includes a. include several previous award winners.

The award is presented at the annual ACM Awards Banquet for the previous year. On the occasion of their award ceremony, the winners hold a special lecture at any ACM conference, the Turing Award Lecture , in which they present their views and experiences in key areas of computer science.

The award will be endowed with one million US dollars for 2014, which is sponsored by Google . Previously, the endowment since 2007 was $ 250,000 with Intel as a co-sponsor. Four years earlier, the prize pool had increased from $ 25,000 to $ 100,000.

Award winners

The first winner in 1966 was Alan J. Perlis , who had previously been President of the ACM and who later coined the term Turing tarpit (for a very flexible programming language that is difficult to learn and use in practice). With Frances Allen 40 years later received the first woman the award. In 1975 the prize went to more than one person for the first time ( Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon , who worked together on artificial intelligence ).

Around two thirds of the awards went to US citizens.

year	image	person	power	Turing Award Lecture
1966		Alan J. Perlis (1922–1990, )	Advanced programming techniques and compiler building	The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems
1967		Maurice V. Wilkes (1913-2010, )	Construction of the EDSAC , the first computer with internally stored programs , and, together with David Wheeler and Stanley Gill, the effective introduction of program libraries with the work Preparation of Programs for Electronic Digital Computers	Computers Then and Now
1968		Richard Hamming (1915–1998, )	Numerical methods , code-generating systems, error-detecting and error-correcting codes	One Man's View of Computer Science
1969		Marvin Minsky (1927-2016, )	Artificial intelligence	Form and Content in Computer Science
1970		James H. Wilkinson (1919–1986, )	Numerical math , linear algebra , "backward" error analysis	Some Comments from a Numerical Analyst
1971		John McCarthy (1927-2011, )	Artificial intelligence	Generality in Artificial Intelligence (published in revised form 1986)
1972		Edsger W. Dijkstra (1930–2002, )	Technology and terminology of the programming languages	The Humble Programmer
1973		Charles Bachman (1924-2017, )	Database techniques	The Programmer as Navigator
1974		Donald E. Knuth (* 1938, )	Analysis of algorithms and design of programming languages, especially the contributions to the art of programming in The Art of Computer Programming	Computer Programming as an Art
1975		Allen Newell (1927-1992, )	Artificial intelligence, psychology of human knowledge, list processing (originally with John Clifford Shaw )	Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search
		Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001, )
1976		Michael O. Rabin (* 1931, )	Nondeterministic automata (introduced in the paper Finite Automata and Their Decision Problem )	Complexity of Computations
		Dana Scott (* 1932, )		Logic and Programming Languages
1977		John W. Backus (1924-2007, )	Higher programming languages (especially Fortran ), formal procedures for the specification of programming languages	Can Programming Be Liberated From the von Neumann Style? A Functional Style and its Algebra of Programs, PDF file
1978		Robert Floyd (1936-2001, )	Methods for the generation of efficient and reliable programs, and help with the establishment of the computer science subfields parser theory , programming language semantics , automatic program verification and synthesis as well as algorithm analysis	The Paradigms of Programming
1979		Kenneth E. Iverson (1920-2004 )	Programming languages ​​and mathematical notation, implementation of interactive systems, use of APL in training, as well as contributions to the theory and practice of programming languages	Notation as a Tool of Thought
1980		Tony Hoare (* 1934, )	Definition and design of programming languages	The Emperor's Old Clothes
1981		Edgar F. Codd (1923-2003, )	Theory and practice of database management systems , especially relational databases , which he developed in a series of papers on A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks , with which he laid the foundations for further research on database languages, query subsystems, database semantics, locking and recovery and put inferential data analysis	Relational Database: A Practical Foundation for Productivity
1982		Stephen A. Cook (* 1939, )	Complexity theory , especially the theory of NP-completeness founded in the paper The Complexity of Theorem Proving Procedures	An Overview of Computational Complexity ( Memento from January 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 969 kB)
1983		Ken Thompson (* 1943, )	Basic operating system theory , implementation of Unix	Reflections on Trusting Trust ( Memento dated December 6, 2011 on WebCite )
		Dennis Ritchie (1941–2011, )		Reflections on Software Research
1984		Niklaus Wirth (* 1934, )	Development of several programming languages: Euler , Algol W , Modula and especially Pascal	From Programming Language Design to Computer Construction
1985		Richard M. Karp (* 1935, )	Algorithm theory, in particular the development of efficient algorithms for network flow and other combinatorial optimization problems , the identification of computability in polynomial time and contributions to the theory of NP-completeness , where he developed a methodology for their detection	Combinatorics, Complexity, and Randomness ( Memento from January 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 1.22 MB)
1986		John E. Hopcroft (* 1939, )	Design and analysis of algorithms and data structures	Computer Science: The Emergence Of A Discipline (PDF file; 494 kB)
		Robert Tarjan (* 1948, )		Algorithm Design (PDF file; 944 kB)
1987		John Cocke (1925-2002, )	Compiler theory and design, architecture of large systems, design of RISC architecture; in particular for the discovery and systematisation of many transformations that are fundamental to the optimization of compilers, such as reducing operator strength, eliminating common subexpressions and dead code, register allocation and constant propagation	The Search For Performance In Scientific Processors (PDF file; 402 kB)
1988		Ivan Sutherland (* 1938, )	Computer graphics , starting with the development of Sketchpad , which introduced many important techniques, later also the development of a lorgnon for viewing stereo images, and elegant algorithms for registering digitized views, polygon clipping and surface representation with covered lines	Micropipelines (PDF file; 3.01 MB)
1989		William Kahan (* 1933, )	Numerical mathematics, especially floating point calculations, with the development and propagation of the IEEE 754 and IEEE 854 standards
1990		Fernando José Corbató (1926–2019, )	Concept and coordination of the development of the Compatible Time-Sharing System and Multics (which introduced many important concepts and techniques and influenced many later systems; Corbató's clock-based paging algorithm has since been used in practically all virtual storage systems), with pioneering work in many software engineering techniques, like data encapsulation through forced abstraction	On Building Systems That Will Fail (PDF file; 997 kB)
1991		Robin Milner (1934-2010, )	LCF , probably the first theoretically founded and practically applicable theorem prover ML , the first programming language with polymorphic type inference and type-safe exception handling CCS, a general theory of concurrency	Elements of Interaction (PDF file; 1.38 MB)
1992		Butler Lampson (* 1943, )	Distributed, personalized computer environments (based on the paradigm personal computer / LAN / server instead of terminal / mainframe) and the technology for their implementation: workstations, networks, operating systems, displays, security and document publishing	Principles for Computer System Design ( DOC , PDF , HTML )
1993		Juris Hartmanis (* 1928, )	Justification of the complexity theory with the paper On the Computational Complexity of Algorithms	On Computational Complexity and the Nature of Computer Science
		Richard E. Stearns (* 1936, )		It's Time to Reconsider Time (PDF file; 736 kB)
1994		Edward Feigenbaum (* 1936, )	Design and construction of large artificial intelligence systems that demonstrated the practical importance and commercial impact of AI technology (Reddy: speech recognition, Feigenbaum: rule-based expert systems)	How the “What” Becomes the “How” (PDF file; 322 kB)
		Raj Reddy (* 1937, )		To Dream The Possible Dream (PDF file; 207 kB)
1995		Manuel Blum (* 1938, )	Complexity theory and its application in cryptography and program testing
1996		Amir Pnueli (1941–2009, )	Temporal logic; Program and system verification, especially for concurrent and reactive systems (with the paper The Temporal Logic of Programs )	Verification Engineering: A Future Profession ( GZIP ; 70 kB) (PostScript)
1997		Douglas C. Engelbart (1925–2013, )	Future vision of the interactive computer, invention of key technologies for their realization (the mouse, windows, hyperlinks, teleconferences, online publishing)	Collective IQ and a framework for bootstrapping our society
1998		Jim Gray (1944–2012, )	Databases and transaction processing, and technical leadership in system implementation from prototypes to commercial products	What Next? A Few Remaining Problems in Information Technology (PDF file; 2.71 MB)
1999		Frederick P. Brooks (* 1931, )	Computer architecture , operating systems , software engineering	The Design of Design ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (WMV)
2000		Andrew Yao (* 1946, )	Computability theory , especially the complexity-based theory of pseudo-random number generation , cryptography and communication complexity
2001		Ole-Johan Dahl (1931–2002, )	Fundamental ideas for the advent of object-oriented programming through the design of the Simula programming languages ​​that introduced concepts such as objects, classes, and inheritance	The Development of the Key Object-Oriented Concepts (The lecture was not given because both award winners had passed away)
		Kristen Nygaard (1926-2002, )
2002		Ronald L. Rivest (* 1947, )	Asymmetrical encryption algorithms , especially RSA , and their practical applicability	The Early Days of RSA - History and Lessons ( HTML-Slides , QuickTime , Shockwave , MP3 )
		Adi Shamir (* 1952, )		Cryptography: State Of The Science ( HTML-Slides , QuickTime , Shockwave , MP3 )
		Leonard Adleman (* 1945, )		Pre-RSA ( HTML Slides , QuickTime , Shockwave , MP3 )
2003		Alan Kay (* 1940, )	Basic ideas of modern object-oriented programming languages ​​with the development of Smalltalk and their graphical development environment, as well as the integration of their concept in the Xerox Alto and the Dynabook and thus contributions to personal computing	The Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet (MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime)
2004		Vinton G. Cerf (* 1943, )	Internet, especially development of TCP / IP	(none, instead a panel discussion ; MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime)
		Robert E. Kahn (* 1938, )
2005		Peter Naur (1928–2016, )	Contributions to the design of programming languages ​​and the definition of Algol 60 , compiler design (with Jørn Jensen implementation of the GIER Algol compiler, which offered procedures fully supported, abstract type checking and test coverage checking) and the art and practice of programming (introduction of assertions, use of structured programming )	Computing vs. Human Thinking (MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime)
2006		Frances E. Allen (1932-2020, )	Theory and practice of compiler optimization, laying the foundations for modern automatic program optimization and parallel processing (alone, for example with the paper Program Optimization, which introduced graph-theoretic structures into the optimization analysis, and together with John Cocke )	Compiling for Performance - A Personal Tour (MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime)
2007		Edmund M. Clarke (* 1945, )	Development of the model testing established independently by Clarke / Emerson and Sifakis into an effective verification technique widely used in the hardware and software industry	Model Checking - My 27 year quest to overcome the State Explosion problem (MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime, later republished in a revised form with the other two )
		E. Allen Emerson (* 1954, )		Model Checking: A Bird's-Eye View (MOV file; 0 kB) (QuickTime, later re-released with the other two in a revised form )
		Joseph Sifakis (* 1946, )		The Quest for Correctness - Beyond Verification ( PDF , QuickTime (MOV file; 0 kB); later republished in a revised form with the other two )
2008		Barbara Liskov (* 1939, )	Contributions to programming language and operating system design, especially in connection with data abstraction, modularity, fault tolerance , persistence and distributed computing	The Power of Abstraction
2009		Charles P. Thacker (1943-2017, )	Pioneered the design and implementation of the Alto, the first personal computer with a graphical user interface, and contributed to the development of Ethernet and tablet PCs	Improving the Future by Examining the Past
2010		Leslie Valiant (* 1949, )	Significant contributions to complexity theory, especially computational learning theory (with the introduction of the PAC model), enumeration and algebraic computational complexity and the theory of parallel and distributed computing	The Extent and the Limitations of Mechanistic Explanations of Nature (Flash)
2011		Judea Pearl (* 1936, )	Fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causalistic reasoning	The Mechanization of Causal Inference: A "mini" Turing Test And Beyond (Flash)
2012		Silvio Micali (* 1954, )	Creation of the complexity-theoretical foundations of cryptography and thus preparation for new methods for the efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory	Proof According to Silvio (Flash)
		Shafi Goldwasser (* 1958, )		The Cryptographic Lens (Flash)
2013		Leslie Lamport (* 1941, )	Fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of distributed and concurrent systems	An Incomplete History of Concurrency (Flash)
2014		Michael Stonebraker (* 1943, )	Contributions to the concepts and procedures underlying modern database systems	Postgres (Flash)
2015		Whitfield Diffie (* 1944, )	Outstanding contributions to modern cryptography	The Evolving Meaning of Information Security (PDF file; 732.9 kB)
		Martin E. Hellman (* 1945, )
2016		Tim Berners-Lee (* 1955, )	World Wide Web , first web browser and basic protocols and algorithms that make the web scale	The World Wide Web (YouTube video)
2017		John L. Hennessy (* 1952, )	Novel approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with lasting effects on the microprocessor industry.	A Golden Age for Computer Architecture (YouTube video)
		David A. Patterson (* 1947, )
2018		Yoshua Bengio (* 1964 ,, born in )	Neural networks and deep learning .
		Yann LeCun (* 1960, )
		Geoffrey Hinton (* 1947, )
2019		Edwin Catmull (* 1945, )	Fundamental contributions to 3D computer graphics and the influence of these techniques on computer generated images (CGI) in filmmaking and other applications.
		Pat Hanrahan (* 1955, )

Turing Centenary Celebration

In June 2012, 100 years after Alan Turing's birth, 33 winners of the Turing Awards met for the ACM Turing Centenary Celebration in San Francisco to hold lectures and panel discussions on topics such as Information, Data, Security in a Networked Future or An Algorithmic View of to exchange the universe .

Web links

Commons : Turing Award  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• AM Turing Award at ACM (English)
• Turing Centenary Celebration (English)