Presentation 7. Masterminds of IT

Summary form only given. IEEE IT Professional magazine has added a new column this year called Masterminds of IT, which profiles innovators, inventors, and key people in the fields of IT, computer science, and information systems. Since I\´m fortunate enough to be the first editor/author of this column, I\´m happy to have this opportunity to talk about it. First, I\´ll discuss my definitions of IT and masterminds, then give an overview of my first four Mastermind articles, and end with an invitation to readers to submit articles describing their candidate masterminds. Regarding the definition of IT, I\´ll discuss whether it is only a technology or if it is a science as well. I\´ll also note the difference between a science and a technology. Finally, I\´ll consider alternate names for IT such as computing or informatics. Regarding the definition of mastermind, I\´ll offer my view that a mastermind is a special kind of hero. For example, we probably wouldn\´t call a baseball hero a mastermind, but I think we should call an IT mastermind a hero. I will briefly describe some interesting literature about heroes. The first four mastermind articles highlight twelve masterminds, because important technological developments are usually the result of many people putting their minds to work. The first article highlights Alan Turing, who is an exception to the rule I just mentioned in that he "single-handedly" defined what a computer should be and what its capabilities and limitations would be, almost ten years before computers were actually constructed. Then for the design and construction of the first computers, I identify and discuss three masterminds: John Atanasoff, John Mauchly, and John von Neuman. Next, I turn to the design and development of the ARPAnet, the ancestor of the Internet. In this case, I also highlight three masterminds: Larry Roberts, Bob Kahn, and Vint Cerf. Finally, I highlight the most important application of the Internet to date, the World Wide Web, - nd profile its developers. I note three stages of its emergence: the Web itself, the browser, and the search engine, and this prompts me to identify five more masterminds: Tim Berners-Lee, Marc Andreesen, Eric Bina, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page. These IT developments were clearly revolutionary, and although I attempt to give a factual treatment of the developers and their developments, all history is shaded by personal selection and interpretation. After reading my articles, I hope others may be motivated to give their interpretations of important IT heroes and their developments. That is, submissions from readers are welcome. Please contact me at gostrawn@gmail.com.