MENLO PARK, Calif. — Many people cite Albert Einstein’s aphorism “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Only a handful, however, have had the opportunity to discuss the concept with the physicist over breakfast.
One of those is Peter G. Neumann, now an 80-year-old computer scientist at SRI International, a pioneering engineering research laboratory here.
via Rethinking the Computer at 80 – NYTimes.com.
If you don’t know who Peter Neumann is then you should learn. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him twice and he’s a a stupendous and well-integrated brain.
And if you don’t know what RISKS-Digest is – and why it’s uppercase – then you should look into that, too.
If nothing else, read the above article, young geeks, and strive to meet this person.
Also he is the source through which I first head the unexpurgated versions of several Tom Lehrer songs, via the good graces of alcohol, USENIX and Dr Steven Bellovin, q.v.
That was a memorable evening. Apparently Lehrer was Neumann’s roomie at Harvard, or similar.
Keep an eye on Cambridge.
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