Partial list of significant early Harvard computer-sciences faculty and students

A partial list of those mentioned in this article

Return to main article:

Brenda Baker ’69, Ph.D. ’73…longtime scientific researcher at Bell Labs

Ben Barker ’69, Ph.D. ’75…retired after 26 years at Bolt Beranek & Newman (BBN), where he was senior vice president, and five years as president of Data Race

William Bossert ’59, Ph.D. ’63, JF ’66…Arnold professor of science emeritus, creator of the General Education course Nat Sci 110, “Automatic Computing”

Jeffrey Buzen, Ph.D. ’71…former lecturer in computer science, founding figure in statistical modeling and analysis of computer systems, systems engineer at Honeywell, co-founder of BGS Systems

Thomas Cheatham Jr., A.M. ’69…late Gordon McKay professor of computer science whose group worked on programming languages and the systems that made them usable

Peter Chen, Ph.D. ’73…database scholar known for his Entity-Relationship model, currently Distinguished Career Scientist and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon

Emily Friedman, Ph.D. ’74…former professor at UCLA, now retired after a career in engineering and management at Hughes Aircraft (later Raytheon)

Ugo Gagliardi…late Gordon McKay professor of the practice of computer engineering, broadly interested in computing systems architecture, founder of General Systems Group

Sheila Greibach (Carlyle) ’60, Ph.D. ’63…former assistant professor of applied mathematics, professor emerita of computer science at UCLA, trailblazing theoretical computer scientist

William Joyner, Ph.D. ’73…35-year research staff member at IBM, now retired from his position as senior director of computer-aided design and test at Semiconductor Research Corporation

Henry Leitner, Ph.D. ’82…acting dean of Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education and senior lecturer in computer science, teaching Comp Sci 1: “Great Ideas in Computer Science”

Robert Metcalfe, Ph.D. ’73…co-inventor of Ethernet, currently professor of innovation and entrepreneurship and Murchison Fellow of free enterprise, Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Anthony Oettinger ’51, Ph.D. ’54…Gordon McKay professor of applied mathematics and professor of information resources policy emeritus

Severo Ornstein ’51, G ’53…former visiting lecturer and research fellow in electrical engineering, worked at BBN and Xerox

Patricia Griffiths Selinger ’71, Ph.D. ’75…former IBM Fellow and vice president of data management architecture and technology

Robert Shostak ’70, Ph.D. ’74…did pioneering work while at SRI International on fault-tolerant distributed systems, co-founded Ansa Software and founded Vocera Communications

Ivan Sutherland, A.M. ’66…associate professor of electrical engineering and pioneer of computer graphics, his group at Harvard developed the first virtual-reality system

Martin Thrope ’68, S.B. ’68, M.B.A. ’76…helped pioneer packet switching communications technology before switching to business management

Mark Tuttle, G ’73…former Nat Sci 110 teaching fellow who started a similar course at Berkeley, founder and director for 32 years of Silicon Valley medical technology company Apelon

Bonnie Webber, Ph.D. ’78…computational linguist, professor emeritus at School of Infomatics, University of Edinburgh, winner of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association for Computational Linguistics

William Woods, Ph.D. ’68…former assistant professor and professor of the practice of computer science, also at BBN, Sun Microsystems, Applied Expert Systems, ON Technology, and Google

You might also like

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Being Undocumented in America

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing aims to challenge assumptions. 

Most popular

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival

Without Christopher Marlowe, there might not have been a Bard.

Explore More From Current Issue

James Muller in white lab coat leaning on railing in hospital hallway.

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Will Makris in blue checkered suit and red patterned tie standing outdoors by stone column.

A New HAA President at a Tumultuous Time

A career in higher ed inspired Will Makris to give back.

John Goldberg

Harvard in the News

University layoffs, professors in court, and a new Law School dean