COMPUTER SCIENTIST

Ken Thompson

1943 - Today

Ken Thompson

Kenneth Lane Thompson (born February 4, 1943) is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programming language, the direct predecessor to the C programming language, and was one of the creators and early developers of the Plan 9 operating system. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ken Thompson has received more than 1,154,101 page views. His biography is available in 53 different languages on Wikipedia making him the 17th most popular computer scientist.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 58.80

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 53

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.12

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.72

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ken Thompsons by language


Among COMPUTER SCIENTISTS

Among computer scientists, Ken Thompson ranks 16 out of 187. Before him are John McCarthy, Linus Torvalds, Marvin Minsky, Edgar F. Codd, Ray Kurzweil, and Andrew S. Tanenbaum. After him are Vint Cerf, Alan Kay, George Dantzig, John Backus, Larry Page, and Dorothy Vaughan.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1943, Ken Thompson ranks 70. Before him are Neale Donald Walsch, Mariss Jansons, Esma Redžepova, Yohji Yamamoto, George Benson, and Joni Mitchell. After him are Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vint Cerf, Eduard Limonov, John Denver, Lucio Dalla, and Chantal Mouffe.

Others Born in 1943

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Ken Thompson ranks 1,276 out of 12,171. Before him are Gary Sinise (1955), Noah Gordon (1926), David J. Wineland (1944), Carl Woese (1928), Lionel Richie (1949), and Buddy Rich (1917). After him are Merton Miller (1923), Timothy McVeigh (1968), Russell Alan Hulse (1950), Charles Cooley (1864), Patrick McGoohan (1928), and Vincente Minnelli (1903).

Others born in United States

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