Kurtz, Thomas Eugene, b. 1928
Dates
- Existence: b.1928
Biography
Thomas Eugene Kurtz was born February 22, 1928. He graduated from Knox College in 1950, and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1956. He joined the faculty at Dartmouth College as professor of mathematics the same year. In 1963, he co-designed with G. Kemeny the first computer language known as BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) for Dartmouth’s experimental time-sharing system (DTSS). From 1966-1975, he served as Director of Kiewit Computation Center at Dartmouth and from 1975-1978 ,he was the Director of Academic Computing. In 1980,he became the Director of Computer and Information Systems program at Dartmouth, a groundbreaking multidisciplinary graduate program. He held this position until 1988, after which he returned to teaching full-time as a professor of mathematics with an emphasis on statistics and computer science. He also served as the Council Chairman and Trustee to EDUCOM and NERComP, as well as on the Pierce Panel of the Presidents’ Scientific Advisory Committee. In 1991, he received the Computer Pioneer Award and in 1994, was inducted as a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery.
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Oral history interview with Thomas Kurtz
The oral history interview of Thomas Kutz is comprised of audiocassette recordings and an indexed transcript of the recordings. The interview was conducted by Daniel L. Daily during June and July 2002. The entire interview runs for approximately three and a half hours and covers his career at Dartmouth under four presidents. Interviewed by Daniel L. Daily on 2 occasions during June and July 2002 in Hanover, N.H.
Thomas Kurtz papers
Thomas Eugene Kurtz (b.1928), computer scientist and programmer. The collection contains correspondence, project notes, memos, manuals, academic papers, class notes, curricula, presentation notes, books, textbooks, IBM punched cards, punched tape with various programs as well as journals and periodicals relating to the creation of BASIC for the DTSS (Dartmouth Time-Sharing System) codeveloped by Kurtz and John G. Kemeny and the Kiewit Computation Center.