John Warnock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| John E. Warnock | |
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| Born | 1940 |
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| Fields | Computer Science |
| Institutions | University of Utah |
| Alma mater | University of Utah |
| Known for | Adobe Systems PostScript |
| Notable awards | Medal of Achievement from the American Electronics Association |
John Warnock (born October 6, 1940) is an American computer scientist best known as the co-founder with Charles Geschke of Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company. Although retired as CEO in 2001, he still co-chairs the board with Geschke.
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[edit] Biography
Warnock was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has a B.S. in mathematics and philosophy, an M.S. in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, all from the University of Utah.
John Warnock worked at Evans & Sutherland, a famous computer graphics company, where the concepts of the PostScript language were seeded in 1976. Prior to co-founding Adobe, Warnock worked for Geschke at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he had started in 1978. Unable to convince Xerox management of the approach to commercialize Warnock's InterPress graphics language for controlling printing, the two left Xerox to start Adobe in 1982. At their new company, they developed an equivalent technology, PostScript, from scratch, and brought it to market for Apple's LaserWriter in 1984.
Warnock invented what is now called the Warnock algorithm for hidden surface determination in computer graphics.
Warnock outlined a system called "Camelot"[1], that evolved into the Portable Document Format (PDF) file-format.
One of Adobe's popular typefaces, Warnock, is named after him.
Adobe's PostScript technology made it easier to print text and images from a computer, revolutionizing media and publishing in the 1980s.
In 2003 Warnock donated 200,000 shares of Adobe Systems valued at over 5.7 Million dollars[2] as the main gift for a new engineering building. The John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building was completed in 2007 and houses the University of Utah College of Engineering.
[edit] Recognition
In 1999 Warnock was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. In October 2006, Warnock—along with Adobe co-founder Charles Geschke—received the American Electronics Association's Annual Medal of Achievement Award, being the first software executives to receive this award.
In 2004, Warnock received the Lovelace Medal from the British Computer Society in London.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Warnock, J. (1991). "The Camelot Project" (PDF). PlanetPDF. http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/warnock_camelot.pdf. "This document describes the base technology and ideas behind the project named “Camelot.” This project’s goal is to solve a fundamental problem [...] there is no universal way to communicate and view ... printed information electronically."
- ^ "[http://web.utah.edu/news/releases/03/mar/warnock.html U Receives Cornerstone Gift for New Engineering Building: President J. Bernard Machen Announces Plans for the John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building]". University of Utah. 2003. http://web.utah.edu/news/releases/03/mar/warnock.html. Retrieved on 2009-3-21. "The stock currently valued at over $5.7M is the cornerstone gift of a $13M capital campaign to construct a new engineering building dedicated to undergraduate instruction and emerging areas of research."
- ^ "Lovelace Medal". http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.1433. Retrieved on 2008-12-10. "2004 winner, Dr John E Warnock, Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems"
[edit] External links
- Biography at Computer History Museum
- Biography on Adobe Web site
- Warnock's Utah Bed and Breakfast-The Blue Boar Inn
- Andrei Herasimchuk: Open Letter to John Warnock
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