Alan Kay

American computer scientist (born 1940) · United States · Developers

Alan Kay is read about 279 times a day, in 39 languages.

Counted to 15 September 2026, not since.

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A life in dates

2012“The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made.”In their words2012 Dr. Dobb's Interview with Alan KayRead the whole statement

2010Honorary Doctorate of the University of MurciaAward2008ACM FellowAwardFellow of the American Association for the Advancement of ScienceAward2004“I finally understood that the half page of code on the bottom of page 13 of the Lisp 1.5 manual was Lisp in itself. These were “Maxwell’s Equations of Software!”In their wordsJanuary 2004ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005Read the whole statement

“Basic would never have surfaced because there was always a language better than Basic for that purpose. That language was Joss, which predated Basic and was beautiful.”In their wordsJanuary 2004ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005Read the whole statement

“If the pros at Sun had had a chance to fix Java, the world would be a much more pleasant place. This is not secret knowledge. It's just secret to this pop culture.”In their wordsJanuary 2004ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005Read the whole statement

“I fear - as far as I can tell - that most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java vocational training.”In their wordsJanuary 2004ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005Read the whole statement

“I hired finishers because I'm a good starter and a poor finisher.”In their wordsJanuary 2004ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005Read the whole statement

Charles Stark Draper PrizeAwardKyoto Prize in Advanced TechnologyAward2003Turing AwardAward1999Computer History Museum FellowAward1987ACM Software System AwardAward1940Born17 May 1940

Also in Deutsch

Photos 4

Computer scientist Alan Kay

In their own words 10

Alan Kay

10 statements, newest first

The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made.
2012, 2012 Dr. Dobb's Interview with Alan Kay, Own words
Possibly the only real object-oriented system in working order. (About Internet)
2010, 2010 for Computerworld Australia, Own words
I finally understood that the half page of code on the bottom of page 13 of the Lisp 1.5 manual was Lisp in itself. These were “Maxwell’s Equations of Software!
Jan 2004, ACM Queue A Conversation with Alan Kay Vol. 2, No. 9 - Dec/Jan 2004-2005, Own words

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Awards

Honorary Doctorate of the University of Murcia2010

ACM Fellow2008

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science2008

Charles Stark Draper Prize2004

Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology2004

Turing Award2003

Computer History Museum Fellow1999

ACM Software System Award1987

In their orbit

Spouse: Bonnie MacBird

About this person

Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design. At Xerox PARC he led the design and development of the first modern windowed computer desktop interface. There he also led the development of the influential object-oriented programming language Smalltalk, both personally designing most of the early versions of the language and coining the term "object-oriented." He has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Arts. He received the Turing Award in 2003.

Country

United States

Developers from the United States 6

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