Pioneers

Edsger W. Dijkstra

Computer Scientist

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Edsger W. Dijkstra." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/edsger-dijkstra.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Edsger W. Dijkstra. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/edsger-dijkstra

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-edsger-w-dijkstra,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Edsger W. Dijkstra},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/edsger-dijkstra},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, mathematician and essayist whose fingerprints are on more of this atlas than almost anyone's: the shortest path algorithm that carries his name, conceived in 1956, and the structured programming movement he led, for which he won the 1972 Turing Award. His 1968 letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful gave the movement its rallying cry.

Facts

Birth Year

1930 1

Death Year

2002 1

Nationality

Dutch 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Structured Programming

Dijkstra coined the term and led the movement; his 1972 Turing Award cites this advocacy.

Source Wikipedia: Structured Programming

Structured Programming

Edsger Dijkstra's 1968 letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful argued against unrestricted goto statements and is the founding document of the structured programming movement.

Source Wikipedia: Edsger W. Dijkstra