Donald Knuth

Born January 10, 1938, Knuth was a mathematician who saw early that computing needed theory as much as it needed machines. His work systematizing the analysis of computational complexity and popularizing asymptotic notation gave programmers a language for precision. The Art of Computer Programming, still unfinished decades later, became the field's reference work. He won the Turing Award in 1974. Frustrated by the quality of mathematical typesetting in his own books, he built TeX, a typesetting system so robust that it's still the standard for scientific publishing, along with the METAFONT language and Computer Modern typefaces. He created WEB and CWEB to champion literate programming, designed the MIX and MMIX instruction sets, and became a vocal opponent of software patents. Now professor emeritus at Stanford, he's called the father of algorithm analysis - a title earned by making the invisible machinery legible.