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Michael Dertouzos: Google Doodle honors Greek computer scientist

Google celebrates the 82nd birthday of computer scientists Michael Dertouzos with a special Doodle. Dertouzos is the man who foresaw the impact of internet on people’s everyday lives. ago.

In a blog post, Google says, “Under his guidance, the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science grew into a thriving research center employing hundreds of people collaborating on innovations like distributed systems, time-sharing computers, the ArpaNet, and RSA encryption, an algorithm used to ensure secure data transmission. Dertouzos worked to make LCS the North American home of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an alliance of companies promoting the Web’s evolution and interconnectivity.
Dertouzos recruited Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, to run it.

He insisted on the importance of bringing “technology into our lives, and not vice versa” and spurred LCS to head up the 1999 Oxygen project in partnership with MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab.

He wanted to make computers as natural a part of the environment ‘as the air we breathe’ with this project.

Dertouzos also put his knowledge and beliefs about his concept ‘The Information Marketplace’ into writing with his 1997 book ‘What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will ..

“We made a big mistake 300 years ago when we separated technology and humanism. … It’s time to put the two back together. — Michael Dertouzos, Scientific American, July 1997

Michael Dertouzos  (November 5, 1936 – August 27, 2001) was a Greek professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) from 1974 to 2001.

During Dertouzos’s term, LCS innovated in a variety of areas, including RSA encryption, the spreadsheet, the NuBus, the X Window System, and the Internet. Dertouzos was instrumental in defining the World Wide Web Consortium and bringing it to MIT. He was a firm supporter of the GNU Project, Richard Stallman, and the FSF, and their continued presence at MIT.

In 1968, he co-founded Computek, Inc., a manufacturer of graphics and intelligent terminals, with Marvin C. Lewis and Dr. Huber Graham.

Dertouzos was a graduate of Athens College and attended the University of Arkansas on a Fulbright Scholarship. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1964 and joined the M.I.T. faculty.

He died on August 27 at Massachusetts General Hospital, at the age of 64. He was buried at the First Cemetery of Athens.

“The potential of the modern information age seemed overshadowed at every turn by the ancient forces that separate the rich from the poor.” — Michael Dertouzos, January 1999

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