An annual award for major contributions to computer science by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Along with a $1 million reward and considered the Nobel Prize in the field, in 1966, it was first given to Alan Perlis of Carnegie Mellon for his contribution to computer programming. An award has been given every year since. In some years, two or three people shared the fame.
More Than a Half Century of Recognition
Although more than 75 people have been given the Turing Award, some of the more recognizable names are Marvin Minsky (AI), Ed Dijkstra (ALGOL), Charles Bachman (databases), John Backus (FORTRAN), Ken Iverson (APL), Edgar Codd (relational DB), Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (C), Ivan Sutherland (computer graphics), Ed Feigenbaum and Raj Reddy (AI), Douglas Engelbart (interactive computing), Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman (RSA), Alan Kay (Smalltalk), Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (TCP/IP), Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman (Diffie-Hellman), Tim Berners-Lee (Web) and Robert Metcalfe (Ethernet). See
ACM,
Turing Complete and
Turing machine.