John Kemeny was a Hungarian-American mathematician who, with Thomas Kurtz, invented the BASIC programming language at Dartmouth College in 1964, alongside one of the world's first time-sharing systems, the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System. Kemeny and a student programmer ran the first BASIC program together at 4 a.m. on May 1, 1964. He later served as the thirteenth President of Dartmouth College from 1970 to 1981 and chaired the presidential commission that investigated the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.
Facts
Cross-Tradition Connections
Invented
Co-invented with Thomas Kurtz.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: John G. Kemeny
Wikimedia FoundationCareer sectionQuote, Career section
Kemeny was appointed to the Dartmouth Mathematics Department as a full professor in 1953, at the age of 27. Two years later he became chairman of the department, and held this post until 1967.
1. Wikipedia: John G. Kemeny
Wikimedia FoundationIntroductionQuote, Introduction
John George Kemeny (born Kemeny Janos Gyorgy; May 31, 1926 - December 26, 1992) was a Hungarian-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator best known for co-developing the BASIC programming language in 1964 with Thomas E. Kurtz.
1. Wikipedia: John G. Kemeny
Wikimedia FoundationDeath sectionQuote, Death section
John Kemeny died at the age of 66, the result of heart failure in Lebanon, New Hampshire on December 26, 1992.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.