Mathematician:Donald Ervin Knuth

Pronounced "K-Nooth".

Hugely influential American computer scientist famous for his multi-volume "The Art of Computer Programming", still famously a work in progress.

The "father of analysis of algorithms".

It is impossible accurately to assess the impact of TeX on the ability to communicate mathematics via computer. This website would not have been possible without it.

Nationality
American

History

 * Born: January 10, 1938

Theorems and Definitions

 * Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm
 * Knuth-Bendix Completion Algorithm

Books, Papers and Other Creations

 * 1963: Finite semifields and projective planes (PhD thesis)
 * 1965: On the translation of languages from left to right


 * The Art of Computer Programming, a series of volumes published by Addison-Wesley:
 * 1968: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms (3rd edition: 1997)
 * 1969: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms (3rd edition: 1997)
 * 1973: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 3: Sorting and Searching (2nd edition: 1998)


 * 1974: Surreal Numbers
 * 1977: Fast pattern matching in strings (in which the Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm is introduced)
 * 1991: Efficient representation of perm groups


 * The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 4: Combinatorial Algorithms (in preparation)


 * TeX: the definitive tools for typographical rendition of mathematical symbols.
 * METAFONT: a software tool for alphabet design.


 * MIX and MMIX, a virtual computer architecture (and its successor) designed to teach the basics of machine-level programming.