In the history of technology, Adriaan van Wijngaarden is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Adriaan van Wijngaarden as Dutch computer scientist (1916-1987).
Adriaan van Wijngaarden was born at Rotterdam in 1916. His recorded nationality is the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He was educated at Delft University of Technology.
The twentieth century made work collective, expensive and political, with consequences that reached well beyond the people doing it.
The record gives his occupations as mathematician, computer scientist and programmer.
His affiliations include University of Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and University of Amsterdam.
Among his principal works are ALGOL and Van Wijngaarden grammar. Technical work compounds - each layer makes the next one cheaper to attempt.
His recorded fields of work are computational mathematics.
The honours are a fair index of how the work was received - Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
That the work was done from the Kingdom of the Netherlands matters. Opportunity has never been evenly distributed, and where a person is based shapes which doors open and whose work gets seen.
Adriaan van Wijngaarden died in 1987 at the age of 71. The work outlived the arguments around it.
Achievements
- Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- Notable work: ALGOL
- Notable work: Van Wijngaarden grammar
- Affiliated with University of Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and University of Amsterdam
- Educated at Delft University of Technology
- Worked as mathematician, computer scientist and programmer
