Information | Detail |
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Date of Birth | March 16, 1944 |
Nationality | American |
Residence | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Education | B.S. in Physics, M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science |
Occupation | Computer Scientist, Professor |
Andrew S. Tanenbaum is an American computer scientist and professor who is best known for his pioneering work in computer networking. He is the author of the influential textbook, Computer Networks, which has been used by universities around the world for decades. Tanenbaum is also the creator of the MINIX operating system, which was the inspiration for the Linux kernel.
Tanenbaum was born in 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from MIT in 1965, and his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 and 1971, respectively.
Tanenbaum has held a number of positions in academia, including professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he has been since 1977. He has also held visiting positions at the University of Southern California, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Tanenbaum is the author of several books, including the widely-used textbook Computer Networks, which has been translated into multiple languages and is used in universities around the world. He is also the creator of the MINIX operating system, which was the inspiration for the Linux kernel.
Tanenbaum has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, the IEEE Computer Society Taylor L. Booth Education Award, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.
Tanenbaum has had a number of relationships with celebrities in the computer science field. He was a mentor to Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, and the two have remained close friends. Tanenbaum has also collaborated with other prominent computer scientists, including Donald Knuth, the creator of the TeX typesetting system, and Alan Kay, the creator of the Smalltalk programming language.
Tanenbaum is known for his clear and concise explanations of complex topics. He is often quoted as saying:
“The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.”
Tanenbaum has been criticized for his views on open source software. He has argued that open source software is not suitable for use in mission-critical applications, and has advocated for the use of proprietary software instead.
Tanenbaum is an avid cyclist and has participated in several long-distance cycling events, including the Tour de France.
Tanenbaum is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).