Dutch mathematician and computer scientist
Adriaan
"
Aad
"
van Wijngaarden
(2 November 1916 ? 7 February 1987) was a Dutch
mathematician
and
computer scientist
. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Van Wijngaarden emphasized and promoted the mathematical aspects of computing, first in
numerical analysis
, then in
programming languages
and finally in design principles of such languages.
Biography
[
edit
]
Van Wijngaarden's university education was in
mechanical engineering
, for which he received a degree from
Delft University of Technology
[1]
in 1939. He then studied for a doctorate in
hydrodynamics
, but abandoned the field. He joined the
Nationaal Luchtvaartlaboratorium
in 1945 and went with a group to
England
the next year to learn about new technologies that had been developed there during
World War II
.
Van Wijngaarden was intrigued by the new idea of automatic computing. On 1 January 1947, he became the head of the Computing Department of the brand-new
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
(CWI), which was at the time known as the Mathematisch Centrum (MC), in
Amsterdam
.
[1]
He then made further visits to England and the United States, gathering ideas for the construction of the first Dutch computer, the
ARRA
, an electromechanical device first demonstrated in 1952. In that same year, van Wijngaarden hired
Edsger W. Dijkstra
, and they worked on software for the ARRA.
in 1958, while visiting
Edinburgh
, Scotland, Van Wijngaarden was seriously injured in an automobile accident in which his wife was killed. After he recovered, he focused more on programming language research. The following year, he became a member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
.
[2]
In 1961, he became the director of the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam and remained in that post for the next twenty years.
He was one of the designers of the original
ALGOL
language, and later
ALGOL 68
,
[3]
for which he developed a two-level type of
formal grammar
that became known as a
Van Wijngaarden grammar
.
In 1962, he became involved with developing
international standards
in programming and informatics, as a member of the
International Federation for Information Processing
(IFIP)
IFIP Working Group 2.1
on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi,
[4]
which
specified
, maintains, and supports the
programming languages
ALGOL 60
and
ALGOL 68
.
[5]
Van Wijngaarden Awards
[
edit
]
The Van Wijngaarden Awards are named in his honor and are awarded every 5 years from the 60th anniversary of the
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
in 2006. The physical award consists of a bronze sculpture.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Verrijn-Stuart, Alex (1995).
"IFIP 36 years Obituaries: Prof. Adriaan van WIJNGAARDEN (1916?1987)"
. Retrieved
2020-10-11
.
- ^
"Adriaan van Wijngaarden (1916 - 1987)"
. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
. Retrieved
2015-07-20
.
- ^
van Wijngaarden, Adriaan
;
Mailloux, Barry James
;
Peck, John Edward Lancelot
;
Koster, Cornelis Hermanus Antonius
;
Sintzoff, Michel
[in French]
;
Lindsey, Charles Hodgson
;
Meertens, Lambert Guillaume Louis Theodore
; Fisker, Richard G., eds. (1976).
Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68
(PDF)
.
Springer-Verlag
.
ISBN
978-0-387-07592-1
.
OCLC
1991170
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2019-04-19
. Retrieved
2019-05-11
.
- ^
Jeuring, Johan;
Meertens, Lambert
; Guttmann, Walter (2016-08-17).
"Profile of IFIP Working Group 2.1"
.
Foswiki
. Retrieved
2020-09-11
.
- ^
Swierstra, Doaitse;
Gibbons, Jeremy
;
Meertens, Lambert
(2011-03-02).
"ScopeEtc: IFIP21: Foswiki"
.
Foswiki
. Retrieved
2020-09-11
.
- ^
"First Van Wijngaarden Awards for Lynch and Diaconis"
(Press release). Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. 2006-02-10. Archived from
the original
on 2012-07-28
. Retrieved
2009-10-11
.
- ^
"Van Wijngaarden Award 2011 for Eva Tardos and John Butcher"
(Press release). Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. 2011-02-10. Archived from
the original
on 2011-02-21
. Retrieved
2011-02-12
.
- ^
CWI soiree & Van Wijngaarden Award Ceremony
, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, 2016-09-01, archived from
the original
on 2016-09-25
, retrieved
2016-09-01
- ^
Marta kwiatkowska and susan murphy win van wijngaarden awards 2021 for preventing software faults and for improving decision making in health
, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, 2021-09-20
, retrieved
2021-12-07
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