Read: Turing Award Recipients' Papers

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Below is one canonical book or article for each ACM Turing Award recipient. The year and recipient list follows ACM’s official chronological list.

https://amturing.acm.org/byyear.cfm

Year	Recipient(s)	Domain	Most important book/article
2025	Charles H. Bennett, Gilles Brassard	Quantum information, cryptography	“Quantum Cryptography: Public Key Distribution and Coin Tossing”
2024	Andrew Barto, Richard Sutton	Reinforcement learning	Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction
2023	Avi Wigderson	Complexity theory	Mathematics and Computation
2022	Robert Metcalfe	Networking	“Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks”
2021	Jack Dongarra	Numerical linear algebra, HPC	Templates for the Solution of Linear Systems
2020	Alfred V. Aho, Jeffrey D. Ullman	Compilers, algorithms	Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools
2019	Edwin Catmull, Patrick Hanrahan	Computer graphics	“A Subdivision Algorithm for Computer Display of Curved Surfaces”; “Ray Tracing Volume Densities”
2018	Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun	Deep learning	“Learning Representations by Back-Propagating Errors”; “Gradient-Based Learning Applied to Document Recognition”
2017	John Hennessy, David Patterson	Computer architecture	Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
2016	Tim Berners-Lee	Web	“Information Management: A Proposal”
2015	Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman	Public-key cryptography	“New Directions in Cryptography”
2014	Michael Stonebraker	Databases	“The Design and Implementation of INGRES”
2013	Leslie Lamport	Distributed systems	“Time, Clocks, and the Ordering of Events in a Distributed System”
2012	Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali	Cryptography, complexity	“Probabilistic Encryption”
2011	Judea Pearl	AI, causal inference	Causality
2010	Leslie Valiant	Complexity, learning theory	“A Theory of the Learnable”
2009	Charles P. Thacker	Computer systems	“Alto: A Personal Computer”
2008	Barbara Liskov	Programming languages, distributed systems	“Data Abstraction and Hierarchy”
2007	Edmund Clarke, E. Allen Emerson, Joseph Sifakis	Model checking	“Automatic Verification of Finite-State Concurrent Systems”
2006	Frances E. Allen	Optimizing compilers	“Control Flow Analysis”
2005	Peter Naur	Programming languages	Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60
2004	Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn	Internet protocols	“A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication”
2003	Alan Kay	Personal computing, OOP	“The Early History of Smalltalk”
2002	Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, Leonard Adleman	Cryptography	“A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems”
2001	Ole-Johan Dahl, Kristen Nygaard	Object-oriented programming	“SIMULA: An ALGOL-Based Simulation Language”
2000	Andrew Yao	Theory, cryptography	“Protocols for Secure Computations”
1999	Frederick Brooks	Software engineering	The Mythical Man-Month
1998	Jim Gray	Databases, transactions	“Granularity of Locks and Degrees of Consistency in a Shared Data Base”
1997	Douglas Engelbart	Interactive computing	“A Conceptual Framework for the Augmentation of Man’s Intellect”
1996	Amir Pnueli	Temporal logic, verification	“The Temporal Logic of Programs”
1995	Manuel Blum	Complexity, cryptography	“A Machine-Independent Theory of the Complexity of Recursive Functions”
1994	Edward Feigenbaum, Raj Reddy	AI, expert systems, speech	The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence
1993	Juris Hartmanis, Richard Stearns	Computational complexity	“On the Computational Complexity of Algorithms”
1992	Butler Lampson	Computer systems	“Hints for Computer System Design”
1991	Robin Milner	Programming languages, concurrency	Communication and Concurrency
1990	Fernando Corbato	Operating systems	“An Experimental Time-Sharing System”
1989	William Kahan	Numerical analysis, floating point	“Pracniques: Further Remarks on Reducing Truncation Errors”
1988	Ivan Sutherland	Computer graphics	“Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System”
1987	John Cocke	Compilers, RISC	“The 801 Minicomputer”
1986	John Hopcroft, Robert Tarjan	Algorithms, data structures	“Efficient Algorithms for Graph Manipulation”
1985	Richard Karp	Algorithms, complexity	“Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems”
1984	Niklaus Wirth	Programming languages	Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
1983	Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie	Unix, C	“The UNIX Time-Sharing System”
1982	Stephen Cook	Complexity theory	“The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures”
1981	Edgar F. Codd	Relational databases	“A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks”
1980	C. A. R. Hoare	Programming logic, concurrency	“An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming”
1979	Kenneth Iverson	Array programming	A Programming Language
1978	Robert Floyd	Algorithms, program verification	“Assigning Meanings to Programs”
1977	John Backus	Programming languages	“Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style?”
1976	Michael Rabin, Dana Scott	Automata theory	“Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems”
1975	Allen Newell, Herbert Simon	AI, cognitive science	“Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry”
1974	Donald Knuth	Algorithms	The Art of Computer Programming
1973	Charles Bachman	Databases	“The Programmer as Navigator”
1972	Edsger Dijkstra	Programming, algorithms	“Go To Statement Considered Harmful”
1971	John McCarthy	AI, Lisp	“Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine”
1970	James Wilkinson	Numerical analysis	Rounding Errors in Algebraic Processes
1969	Marvin Minsky	AI	Perceptrons
1968	Richard Hamming	Coding theory, numerical methods	“Error Detecting and Error Correcting Codes”
1967	Maurice Wilkes	Computer architecture	Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer
1966	Alan Perlis	Programming languages	“The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems”

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2025: Charles H. Bennett, Gilles Brassard

Domain: quantum information, quantum cryptography.

Books:

• No single standard book by both. Read Nielsen and Chuang for background, then Bennett and Brassard papers.

Articles:

1. Quantum Cryptography: Public Key Distribution and Coin Tossing
2. Quantum cryptography using any two nonorthogonal states
3. Teleporting an unknown quantum state via dual classical and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen channels
4. Quantum cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing, original proceedings version
5. Experimental quantum cryptography

2024: Andrew Barto, Richard Sutton

Domain: reinforcement learning.

Books:

• Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction

Articles:

1. Learning to predict by the methods of temporal differences
2. Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction, draft PDF
3. Policy Gradient Methods for Reinforcement Learning with Function Approximation
4. Between MDPs and semi-MDPs: A framework for temporal abstraction in reinforcement learning
5. Real-Time Dynamic Programming

2023: Avi Wigderson

Domain: computational complexity, randomness, algorithms.

Books:

• Mathematics and Computation

Articles:

1. P, NP and mathematics: A computational complexity perspective
2. The knowledge complexity of interactive proof systems
3. Hardness vs Randomness
4. Randomness and Computation
5. Expander graphs and their applications

2022: Robert Metcalfe

Domain: Ethernet, networking.

Books:

• No canonical technical book by Metcalfe. Read the Ethernet papers and Xerox PARC reports.

Articles:

1. Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks
2. Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks, ACM page
3. The Ethernet: A Local Area Network
4. Packet Communication
5. A Brief History of Ethernet

2021: Jack Dongarra

Domain: numerical linear algebra, high-performance computing.

Books:

• Templates for the Solution of Linear Systems

Articles:

1. An Updated Set of Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms
2. A Set of Level 3 Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms
3. An Extended Set of FORTRAN Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms
4. LINPACK Users’ Guide
5. The LINPACK Benchmark: Past, Present and Future

2020: Alfred Aho, Jeffrey Ullman

Domain: compilers, algorithms, formal languages.

Books:

• Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools
• The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
• Foundations of Computer Science

Articles:

1. The theory of parsing, translation, and compiling
2. Efficient parsing of deterministic languages
3. The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms, book page
4. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, book page
5. Foundations of Computer Science, free book

2019: Edwin Catmull, Patrick Hanrahan

Domain: computer graphics.

Books:

• No joint canonical textbook. Read the graphics papers.

Articles:

1. A Subdivision Algorithm for Computer Display of Curved Surfaces
2. Ray Tracing Volume Densities
3. A Hidden-Surface Algorithm with Anti-Aliasing
4. Rendering Complex Scenes with Memory-Coherent Ray Tracing
5. Geometry Caching for Ray-Tracing Displacement Maps

2018: Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun

Domain: deep learning.

Books:

• Deep Learning

Articles:

1. Learning representations by back-propagating errors
2. Gradient-Based Learning Applied to Document Recognition
3. A Learning Algorithm for Boltzmann Machines
4. Representation Learning: A Review and New Perspectives
5. Deep Learning

2017: John Hennessy, David Patterson

Domain: computer architecture, RISC.

Books:

• Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
• Computer Organization and Design

Articles:

1. A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks
2. The Case for the Reduced Instruction Set Computer
3. Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, book page
4. Computer Organization and Design, book page
5. A New Golden Age for Computer Architecture

2016: Tim Berners-Lee

Domain: World Wide Web, hypertext, linked data.

Books:

• Weaving the Web

Articles:

1. Information Management: A Proposal
2. The World-Wide Web
3. Universal Resource Identifiers in WWW
4. Linked Data
5. The Semantic Web

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2015: Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman

Domain: public-key cryptography, key exchange.

Books:

• Privacy on the Line, Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau
• New Directions in Cryptography is the essential reading, even though it is an article, not a book.

Articles:

1. New Directions in Cryptography
2. Multiuser Cryptographic Techniques
3. An Improved Algorithm for Computing Logarithms over GF(p) and Its Cryptographic Significance
4. Exhaustive Cryptanalysis of the NBS Data Encryption Standard
5. Privacy and Authentication: An Introduction to Cryptography

2014: Michael Stonebraker

Domain: databases, relational systems, object-relational systems, stream processing, column stores.

Books:

• Readings in Database Systems, edited with Joseph Hellerstein
• The Architecture of Open Source Applications: The NoSQL Ecosystem, chapter by Stonebraker and Cattell

Articles:

1. The Design and Implementation of INGRES
2. The End of an Architectural Era: It’s Time for a Complete Rewrite
3. C-Store: A Column-oriented DBMS
4. The Case for Shared Nothing
5. The Design of the POSTGRES Storage System

2013: Leslie Lamport

Domain: distributed systems, temporal logic, formal methods, LaTeX.

Books:

• LaTeX: A Document Preparation System
• Specifying Systems

Articles:

1. Time, Clocks, and the Ordering of Events in a Distributed System
2. The Part-Time Parliament
3. Paxos Made Simple
4. The Byzantine Generals Problem
5. The Temporal Logic of Actions

2012: Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali

Domain: cryptography, zero knowledge, probabilistic proof systems, complexity.

Books:

• No single canonical book by both. Read the original cryptography and proof-system papers.

Articles:

1. Probabilistic Encryption
2. The Knowledge Complexity of Interactive Proof Systems
3. How to Construct Random Functions
4. Proofs that Yield Nothing But Their Validity
5. Interactive Proof Systems

2011: Judea Pearl

Domain: probabilistic reasoning, Bayesian networks, causal inference.

Books:

• Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems
• Causality
• The Book of Why

Articles:

1. Causal Diagrams for Empirical Research
2. Bayesian Networks: A Model of Self-Activated Memory for Evidential Reasoning
3. Causal Inference in Statistics: An Overview
4. The Seven Tools of Causal Inference
5. Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems, book page

2010: Leslie Valiant

Domain: computational complexity, learning theory, parallel computation, theoretical computer science.

Books:

• Probably Approximately Correct
• Circuits of the Mind

Articles:

1. A Theory of the Learnable
2. The Complexity of Computing the Permanent
3. A Bridging Model for Parallel Computation
4. Robust Logics
5. Evolvability

2009: Charles P. Thacker

Domain: personal computing, workstation systems, networking, hardware systems.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the Alto, Ethernet, and Firefly systems papers.

Articles:

1. Alto: A Personal Computer
2. Firefly: A Multiprocessor Workstation
3. The Alto: A Personal Computer System Hardware Manual
4. A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication
5. The Xerox Alto Computer

2008: Barbara Liskov

Domain: programming languages, data abstraction, distributed systems, object-oriented design.

Books:

• Program Development in Java
• Abstraction and Specification in Program Development

Articles:

1. Data Abstraction and Hierarchy
2. A Design Methodology for Reliable Software Systems
3. CLU Reference Manual
4. Guardians and Actions: Linguistic Support for Robust, Distributed Programs
5. Practical Uses of Synchronized Clocks in Distributed Systems

2007: Edmund Clarke, E. Allen Emerson, Joseph Sifakis

Domain: model checking, temporal logic, verification.

Books:

• Model Checking, Clarke, Grumberg, and Peled

Articles:

1. Automatic Verification of Finite-State Concurrent Systems Using Temporal Logic Specifications
2. Characterizing Correctness Properties of Parallel Programs Using Fixpoints
3. Model Checking and Abstraction
4. Symbolic Model Checking: 10^20 States and Beyond
5. Model Checking, book page

2006: Frances E. Allen

Domain: optimizing compilers, program analysis, parallelization.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the compiler optimization papers.

Articles:

1. Program Optimization
2. Control Flow Analysis
3. A Basis for Program Optimization
4. Interprocedural Data Flow Analysis
5. Automatic Program Optimization

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2005: Peter Naur

Domain: programming languages, ALGOL 60, software practice.

Books:

• Computing: A Human Activity
• Concise Survey of Computer Methods
• Programming as Theory Building

Articles:

1. Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60
2. Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60
3. Programming as Theory Building
4. Computing Versus Human Thinking
5. The European Side of the Last Phase of the Development of ALGOL 60

2004: Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn

Domain: Internet architecture, packet networks, TCP/IP.

Books:

• No canonical book by both. Read the protocol papers.

Articles:

1. A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication
2. The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols
3. The Internet Protocol
4. Transmission Control Protocol
5. What Is the Internet?

2003: Alan Kay

Domain: object-oriented programming, personal computing, graphical user interfaces.

Books:

• No single canonical technical book by Kay. Read the Smalltalk and Dynabook papers.

Articles:

1. The Early History of Smalltalk
2. A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages
3. Personal Dynamic Media
4. The Reactive Engine
5. Doing with Images Makes Symbols

2002: Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, Leonard Adleman

Domain: public-key cryptography, RSA.

Books:

• Introduction to Algorithms, Ronald Rivest with Cormen, Leiserson, and Stein
• No canonical joint book by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman.

Articles:

1. A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems
2. How to Share a Secret
3. On Digital Signatures and Public Key Cryptosystems
4. The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm
5. The RC5 Encryption Algorithm

2001: Ole-Johan Dahl, Kristen Nygaard

Domain: object-oriented programming, simulation languages, SIMULA.

Books:

• Structured Programming, with Dahl, Dijkstra, and Hoare
• No canonical joint book by Dahl and Nygaard beyond SIMULA reports and manuals.

Articles:

1. SIMULA: An ALGOL-Based Simulation Language
2. The Development of the SIMULA Languages
3. Class and Subclass Declarations
4. The SIMULA 67 Common Base Language
5. SIMULA, an ALGOL-Based Simulation Language

2000: Andrew Chi-Chih Yao

Domain: theoretical computer science, communication complexity, cryptography, randomized computation.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the theory papers.

Articles:

1. Protocols for Secure Computations
2. Some Complexity Questions Related to Distributive Computing
3. Probabilistic Computations: Toward a Unified Measure of Complexity
4. Theory and Applications of Trapdoor Functions
5. Should Tables Be Sorted?

1999: Frederick P. Brooks Jr.

Domain: computer architecture, operating systems, software engineering, design.

Books:

• The Mythical Man-Month
• Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution
• The Design of Design

Articles:

1. No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering
2. The Mythical Man-Month, retrospective chapter
3. The Computer Scientist as Toolsmith II
4. The Design of Design, book page
5. Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution, book page

1998: Jim Gray

Domain: databases, transactions, fault tolerance, scalable systems.

Books:

• Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques, with Andreas Reuter

Articles:

1. Granularity of Locks and Degrees of Consistency in a Shared Data Base
2. The Transaction Concept: Virtues and Limitations
3. A Measure of Transaction Processing Power
4. The Five-Minute Rule Ten Years Later
5. Data Management: Past, Present, and Future

1997: Douglas Engelbart

Domain: interactive computing, hypertext, human-computer interaction.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the augmentation papers and reports.

Articles:

1. Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework
2. A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect
3. The Augmented Knowledge Workshop
4. Toward High-Performance Organizations
5. Authorship Provisions in Augmented Knowledge Workshops

1996: Amir Pnueli

Domain: temporal logic, program verification, reactive systems.

Books:

• No single canonical book. Read temporal logic and reactive systems papers.

Articles:

1. The Temporal Logic of Programs
2. In Transition from Global to Modular Temporal Reasoning about Programs
3. Applications of Temporal Logic to the Specification and Verification of Reactive Systems
4. The Temporal Semantics of Concurrent Programs
5. What Good Are Digital Clocks?

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1995: Manuel Blum

Domain: computational complexity, cryptography, program checking.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the complexity and cryptography papers.

Articles:

1. A Machine-Independent Theory of the Complexity of Recursive Functions
2. How to Generate Cryptographically Strong Sequences of Pseudo-Random Bits
3. Checking the Correctness of Memories
4. Designing Programs to Check Their Work
5. Coin Flipping by Telephone

1994: Edward Feigenbaum, Raj Reddy

Domain: artificial intelligence, expert systems, speech recognition.

Books:

• The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, Feigenbaum, Barr, and Cohen
• Computers and Thought, Feigenbaum and Feldman

Articles:

1. DENDRAL and Meta-DENDRAL: Their Applications Dimension
2. The Art of Artificial Intelligence: Themes and Case Studies of Knowledge Engineering
3. The Heuristic DENDRAL Program for Explaining Empirical Data
4. Speech Understanding Systems: A Summary of Results of the Five-Year Research Effort
5. Hearsay-II Speech Understanding System: Integrating Knowledge to Resolve Uncertainty

1993: Juris Hartmanis, Richard E. Stearns

Domain: computational complexity theory.

Books:

• No canonical joint book. Read the original complexity papers.

Articles:

1. On the Computational Complexity of Algorithms
2. Computational Complexity of Recursive Sequences
3. On the Complexity of Turing Machine Computations
4. Algebraic Structure Theory of Sequential Machines
5. Computational Complexity of One-Tape Turing Machine Computations

1992: Butler W. Lampson

Domain: computer systems, operating systems, distributed systems, security.

Books:

• No single canonical book. Read the systems papers.

Articles:

1. Hints for Computer System Design
2. Protection
3. A Note on the Confinement Problem
4. Experience with Processes and Monitors in Mesa
5. The Alto Operating System

1991: Robin Milner

Domain: programming languages, type systems, concurrency, process calculi.

Books:

• Communication and Concurrency
• The Definition of Standard ML
• A Calculus of Communicating Systems

Articles:

1. A Theory of Type Polymorphism in Programming
2. A Calculus of Communicating Systems
3. The Polyadic pi-Calculus: A Tutorial
4. Elements of Interaction
5. The Definition of Standard ML, revised book page

1990: Fernando J. Corbato

Domain: time-sharing systems, operating systems, system security.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read CTSS and Multics papers.

Articles:

1. An Experimental Time-Sharing System
2. The Compatible Time-Sharing System: A Programmer’s Guide
3. Introduction and Overview of the Multics System
4. A Managerial View of the Multics System Development
5. On Building Systems That Will Fail

1989: William Kahan

Domain: numerical analysis, floating-point arithmetic.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the floating-point papers and notes.

Articles:

1. IEEE Standard 754 for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic
2. Pracniques: Further Remarks on Reducing Truncation Errors
3. How Java’s Floating-Point Hurts Everyone Everywhere
4. Miscalculating Area and Angles of a Needle-like Triangle
5. Branch Cuts for Complex Elementary Functions

1988: Ivan Sutherland

Domain: computer graphics, interactive graphical systems, virtual reality.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read Sketchpad and graphics systems papers.

Articles:

1. Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System
2. The Ultimate Display
3. A Characterization of Ten Hidden-Surface Algorithms
4. A Head-Mounted Three-Dimensional Display
5. Micropipelines

1987: John Cocke

Domain: compiler optimization, RISC architecture, computer architecture.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read compiler and RISC papers.

Articles:

1. The 801 Minicomputer
2. A Catalog of Optimizing Transformations
3. The Structure of a Compiler
4. Global Common Subexpression Elimination
5. Design of the IBM RISC System/6000

1986: John Hopcroft, Robert Tarjan

Domain: algorithms, graph algorithms, data structures, automata theory.

Books:

• Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
• The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
• Data Structures and Network Algorithms

Articles:

1. Efficient Algorithms for Graph Manipulation
2. Finding the Triconnected Components of a Graph
3. Efficient Planarity Testing
4. Dividing a Graph into Triconnected Components
5. Efficient Algorithms for Finding Minimum Spanning Trees in Undirected and Directed Graphs

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1985: Richard M. Karp

Domain: algorithms, computational complexity, combinatorial optimization.

Books:

• No single canonical book. Read the NP-completeness and algorithms papers.

Articles:

1. Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems
2. A Dynamic Programming Approach to Sequencing Problems
3. The Probabilistic Analysis of Some Combinatorial Search Algorithms
4. An Efficient Randomized Pattern-Matching Algorithm
5. Mapping the Genome: Some Combinatorial Problems Arising in Molecular Biology

1984: Niklaus Wirth

Domain: programming languages, structured programming, compiler construction.

Books:

• Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
• Compiler Construction
• Project Oberon

Articles:

1. Program Development by Stepwise Refinement
2. The Programming Language Pascal
3. A Brief History of Software Engineering
4. Good Ideas, Through the Looking Glass
5. Project Oberon: The Design of an Operating System and Compiler

1983: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie

Domain: Unix, C, operating systems, systems programming.

Books:

• The C Programming Language
• The Unix Programming Environment, Kernighan and Pike, for the broader Unix style.

Articles:

1. The UNIX Time-Sharing System
2. The C Programming Language
3. The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System
4. Reflections on Trusting Trust
5. A Stream Input-Output System

1982: Stephen A. Cook

Domain: computational complexity, NP-completeness, proof complexity.

Books:

• Logical Foundations of Proof Complexity, with Phuong Nguyen

Articles:

1. The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures
2. An Observation on Time-Storage Trade Off
3. A Taxonomy of Problems with Fast Parallel Algorithms
4. The P versus NP Problem
5. The Complexity of Theorem Proving Procedures, ACM page

1981: Edgar F. Codd

Domain: relational databases.

Books:

• The Relational Model for Database Management

Articles:

1. A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks
2. Extending the Database Relational Model to Capture More Meaning
3. Relational Completeness of Data Base Sublanguages
4. A Data Base Sublanguage Founded on the Relational Calculus
5. Further Normalization of the Data Base Relational Model

1980: C. A. R. Hoare

Domain: programming logic, concurrency, structured programming, algorithms.

Books:

• Communicating Sequential Processes
• Structured Programming, with Dahl and Dijkstra

Articles:

1. An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming
2. Communicating Sequential Processes
3. Quicksort
4. Proof of a Program: FIND
5. The Emperor’s Old Clothes

1979: Kenneth E. Iverson

Domain: array programming, notation, APL.

Books:

• A Programming Language
• Algebra: An Algorithmic Treatment

Articles:

1. Notation as a Tool of Thought
2. A Personal View of APL
3. The Description of Finite Sequential Processes
4. Operators and Functions
5. A Dictionary of APL

1978: Robert W. Floyd

Domain: algorithms, program verification, parsing, semantics.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the algorithms and verification papers.

Articles:

1. Assigning Meanings to Programs
2. Algorithm 97: Shortest Path
3. Nondeterministic Algorithms
4. The Paradigms of Programming
5. Syntactic Analysis and Operator Precedence

1977: John Backus

Domain: programming languages, FORTRAN, functional programming.

Books:

• No single canonical book. Read FORTRAN and FP papers.

Articles:

1. The FORTRAN Automatic Coding System
2. Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style?
3. The History of FORTRAN I, II, and III
4. Programming in America in the 1950s: Some Personal Impressions
5. The Syntax and Semantics of the Proposed International Algebraic Language

1976: Michael O. Rabin, Dana S. Scott

Domain: automata theory, nondeterminism, randomized algorithms.

Books:

• No canonical joint book. Read automata and randomized algorithms papers.

Articles:

1. Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems
2. Probabilistic Automata
3. Probabilistic Algorithm for Testing Primality
4. Randomized Byzantine Generals
5. Theoretical Impediments to Artificial Intelligence

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1975: Allen Newell, Herbert A. Simon

Domain: artificial intelligence, cognitive science, symbolic problem solving.

Books:

• Human Problem Solving
• The Sciences of the Artificial
• Computer Structures: Readings and Examples

Articles:

1. Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search
2. The Logic Theory Machine
3. GPS, A Program That Simulates Human Thought
4. Human Problem Solving: The State of the Theory in 1970
5. Heuristic Problem Solving: The Next Advance in Operations Research

1974: Donald E. Knuth

Domain: algorithms, analysis of algorithms, literate programming, typesetting.

Books:

• The Art of Computer Programming
• Concrete Mathematics
• Literate Programming
• The TeXbook

Articles:

1. Computer Programming as an Art
2. Literate Programming
3. The Complexity of Songs
4. An Empirical Study of FORTRAN Programs
5. Structured Programming with go to Statements

1973: Charles W. Bachman

Domain: databases, data models, database navigation.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the IDS and data-structure papers.

Articles:

1. The Programmer as Navigator
2. Data Structure Diagrams
3. Software for Random Access Processing
4. The Integrated Data Store: A General Purpose Programming System for Random Access Memories
5. A Personal Chronicle: Creating Better Information Systems

1972: Edsger W. Dijkstra

Domain: programming methodology, algorithms, operating systems, formal reasoning.

Books:

• A Discipline of Programming
• Structured Programming, with Dahl and Hoare
• Predicate Calculus and Program Semantics

Articles:

1. Go To Statement Considered Harmful
2. Cooperating Sequential Processes
3. The Humble Programmer
4. A Note on Two Problems in Connexion with Graphs
5. Guarded Commands, Nondeterminacy and Formal Derivation of Programs

1971: John McCarthy

Domain: artificial intelligence, Lisp, formal reasoning, time-sharing.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read the Lisp and AI papers.

Articles:

1. Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I
2. Programs with Common Sense
3. A Basis for a Mathematical Theory of Computation
4. Time-Sharing Computer Systems
5. Some Philosophical Problems from the Standpoint of Artificial Intelligence

1970: James H. Wilkinson

Domain: numerical analysis, floating-point computation, matrix algorithms.

Books:

• Rounding Errors in Algebraic Processes
• The Algebraic Eigenvalue Problem

Articles:

1. Error Analysis of Direct Methods of Matrix Inversion
2. The Algebraic Eigenvalue Problem, book page
3. Rounding Errors in Algebraic Processes, book page
4. The Perfidious Polynomial
5. Error Analysis of Floating-Point Computation

1969: Marvin Minsky

Domain: artificial intelligence, neural networks, cognition.

Books:

• Perceptrons, with Seymour Papert
• The Society of Mind
• The Emotion Machine
• Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines

Articles:

1. Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence
2. A Framework for Representing Knowledge
3. Perceptrons, expanded edition book page
4. Matter, Mind and Models
5. Jokes and the Logic of the Cognitive Unconscious

1968: Richard W. Hamming

Domain: coding theory, numerical methods, scientific computing.

Books:

• Coding and Information Theory
• Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers
• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering

Articles:

1. Error Detecting and Error Correcting Codes
2. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics
3. You and Your Research
4. Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers, archive
5. Coding and Information Theory, archive

1967: Maurice V. Wilkes

Domain: computer architecture, microprogramming, early stored-program computers.

Books:

• Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer
• Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer
• Time-Sharing Computer Systems

Articles:

1. The Best Way to Design an Automatic Calculating Machine
2. The EDSAC
3. Microprogramming and the Design of the Control Circuits in an Electronic Digital Computer
4. The EDSAC Simulator and Programming Tutorial
5. Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer, archive

1966: Alan J. Perlis

Domain: programming languages, compilers, computer science education.

Books:

• No canonical book. Read ALGOL and programming-language papers.

Articles:

1. The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems
2. Epigrams on Programming
3. The American Side of the Development of ALGOL
4. A Language for Writing Programs
5. Preliminary Report: International Algebraic Language