Ken Thompson

E31846
computer scientist human programming language designer software engineer

Ken Thompson is an American computer scientist best known as a co-creator of the Unix operating system and the B programming language, and for his foundational contributions to modern computing.

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AI illustration

How this image was made

AI-generated illustration of Ken Thompson

This AI-generated illustration was produced by black-forest-labs/FLUX.2-dev (1024x1024) from a prompt written by openai/gpt-oss-120b from the entity's label + description.

Prompt

Generate an image of Ken Thompson (Ken Thompson is an American computer scientist best known as a co-creator of the Unix operating system and the B programming language, and for his foundational contributions to modern computing.)

All labels observed (5)

Label Occurrences
Ken Thompson canonical 29
Ken Thompson (as colleague, not student) 1
Ken Thompson (computer scientist) 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (66)

Predicate Object
instanceOf computer scientist ⓘ
human ⓘ
programming language designer ⓘ
software engineer ⓘ
awardReceived ACM SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award ⓘ
Computer History Museum Fellow Award ⓘ
IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award ⓘ
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal ⓘ
Japan Prize ⓘ
National Medal of Technology ⓘ
linked to: National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Turing Award ⓘ
USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award ⓘ
birthDate 1943-02-04 ⓘ
birthPlace New Orleans, Louisiana, United States ⓘ
linked to: New Orleans
coCreatorOf B programming language ⓘ
Go programming language runtime (early work) ⓘ
linked to: Go

Inferno operating system ⓘ
Plan 9 from Bell Labs ⓘ
UTF-8 ⓘ
Unix ⓘ
collaboratedWith Brian Kernighan ⓘ
Dennis Ritchie ⓘ
Rob Pike ⓘ
coRecipientWith Dennis Ritchie ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship United States of America ⓘ
degree Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences ⓘ
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences ⓘ
developed Thompson's algorithm ⓘ
Thompson's construction ⓘ
linked to: Thompson's algorithm
educatedAt University of California, Berkeley ⓘ
employer Bell Labs ⓘ
linked to: Bell Telephone Laboratories

Bell Telephone Laboratories ⓘ
Google ⓘ
era 20th-century computing ⓘ
21st-century computing ⓘ
familyName Thompson ⓘ
fieldOfWork computer science ⓘ
computer security ⓘ
operating systems ⓘ
programming languages ⓘ
fullName Kenneth Lane Thompson ⓘ
linked to: Ken Thompson
gender male ⓘ
givenName Kenneth ⓘ
influenced C programming language design via B ⓘ
modern Unix-like operating systems ⓘ
software security thinking ⓘ
knownFor Thompson's algorithm for regular expression matching ⓘ
Thompson's construction for converting regular expressions to NFAs ⓘ
linked to: Thompson's algorithm

co-creating the UTF-8 character encoding ⓘ
co-creating the Unix operating system ⓘ
co-designing the B programming language ⓘ
early work on the Plan 9 from Bell Labs operating system ⓘ
the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper ⓘ
work on the Inferno operating system ⓘ
languageSpoken English ⓘ
memberOf Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center ⓘ
linked to: Bell Telephone Laboratories
notableIdea compiler backdoor attack described in "Reflections on Trusting Trust" ⓘ
notableWork B programming language ⓘ
Inferno ⓘ
Plan 9 from Bell Labs ⓘ
Reflections on Trusting Trust ⓘ
linked to: the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper

UTF-8 ⓘ
Unix ⓘ
receivedAwardFor Turing Award for the development of generic operating systems theory and the implementation of the Unix operating system ⓘ
linked to: Turing Award
residence United States ⓘ
linked to: United States of America
thesisTitle Regular Expression Search Algorithm ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (33)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Bell Telephone Laboratories → employed → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Go → designedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Thompson → hasNotableBearer → Ken Thompson (computer scientist) ⓘ
linked to: Ken Thompson
Ken Thompson → fullName → Kenneth Lane Thompson ⓘ
linked to: Ken Thompson
Dennis Ritchie → collaboratedWith → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Unix → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award → notableRecipient → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Rob Pike → coInventorWith → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Robert Griesemer → coDesignedWith → Ken Thompson ⓘ
B → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Thompson's algorithm for regular expression matching → creator → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Reflections on Trusting Trust → author → Ken Thompson ⓘ
subject linked to: the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper
Reflections on Trusting Trust → author → Kenneth Thompson ⓘ
subject linked to: the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" lecture and paper
linked to: Ken Thompson
B programming language → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
UTF-8 → designedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Plan 9 from Bell Labs → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Thompson's algorithm → creator → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Regular Expression Search Algorithm → developedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Regular Expression Search Algorithm → formalizedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Computer History Museum Fellow Award → hasRecipient → Ken Thompson ⓘ
USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award → notableRecipient → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Brian Kernighan → notableStudent → Ken Thompson (as colleague, not student) ⓘ
linked to: Ken Thompson
PDP-7 → usedBy → Ken Thompson ⓘ
ed → developer → Ken Thompson ⓘ
subject linked to: ED
Martin Richards → influenced → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Cuckoo → mainCharacter → Ken Thompson ⓘ
W. W. McDowell Award → notableRecipient → Ken Thompson ⓘ
9P network protocol → primaryDesigner → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Phil Winterbottom → coWorker → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Phil Winterbottom → coAuthor → Ken Thompson ⓘ
UNIX: A History and a Memoir → aboutPerson → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Unix philosophy → associatedWithPerson → Ken Thompson ⓘ
Ken → hasNotableBearer → Ken Thompson ⓘ