COMPUTER SCIENTIST

Edsger W. Dijkstra

1930 - 2002

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Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ( DYKE-strə; Dutch: [ˈɛtsxər ˈʋibə ˈdɛikstraː] ; 11 May 1930 – 6 August 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, software engineer, mathematician, and science essayist. Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Dijkstra studied mathematics and physics and then theoretical physics at the University of Leiden. Adriaan van Wijngaarden offered him a job as the first computer programmer in the Netherlands at the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam, where he worked from 1952 until 1962. He formulated and solved the shortest path problem in 1956, and in 1960 developed the first compiler for the programming language ALGOL 60 in conjunction with colleague Jaap A. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Edsger W. Dijkstra has received more than 2,013,575 page views. His biography is available in 61 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 56 in 2019). Edsger W. Dijkstra is the 7th most popular computer scientist (up from 8th in 2019), the 83rd most popular biography from Netherlands (up from 87th in 2019) and the most popular Dutch Computer Scientist.

Edsger Dijkstra is most famous for his work in computer science, particularly in the design of the algorithm for the shortest path problem.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.0M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.26

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 61

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.98

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.24

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among COMPUTER SCIENTISTS

Among computer scientists, Edsger W. Dijkstra ranks 7 out of 245. Before him are Alan Turing, Grace Hopper, Tim Berners-Lee, Richard Stallman, Niklaus Wirth, and Dennis Ritchie. After him are Donald Knuth, John McCarthy, Lotfi A. Zadeh, Linus Torvalds, Andrew S. Tanenbaum, and Edgar F. Codd.

Most Popular Computer Scientists in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1930, Edsger W. Dijkstra ranks 40. Before him are Hugh Everett III, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Zhores Alferov, Ali al-Sistani, George E. Smith, and Gylmar dos Santos Neves. After him are Gary Becker, Bernie Ecclestone, Biljana Plavšić, Akira Suzuki, Derek Walcott, and Félix Guattari. Among people deceased in 2002, Edsger W. Dijkstra ranks 22. Before him are Traudl Junge, Chuck Jones, James Coburn, Niki de Saint Phalle, Ivan Illich, and Linda Lovelace. After him are Fritz Walter, Abu Nidal, Alexander Prokhorov, Camilo José Cela, Nándor Hidegkuti, and Archer Martin.

Others Born in 1930

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Others Deceased in 2002

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In Netherlands

Among people born in Netherlands, Edsger W. Dijkstra ranks 83 out of 1,646. Before him are Hugo de Vries (1848), Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907), Petrus Christus (1410), Tobias Asser (1838), Cornelius Jansen (1585), and Bernard Mandeville (1670). After him are Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612), Willebrord Snellius (1580), Jan Oort (1900), Lucas van Leyden (1494), Cornelis Drebbel (1572), and Gerard Kuiper (1905).

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Among COMPUTER SCIENTISTS In Netherlands

Among computer scientists born in Netherlands, Edsger W. Dijkstra ranks 1. After him are Guido van Rossum (1956), Bram Moolenaar (1961), and Mark Overmars (1958).

Dutch born Computer Scientists

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