Andries van Dam
Encyclopedia
Andries "Andy" van Dam is a Dutch
-born American professor of computer science
and former Vice-President for Research at Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island
. Together with Ted Nelson
he contributed to the first hypertext
system, HES
in the late 1960s. He co-authored Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice
along with J.D. Foley
, S.K. Feiner, and John Hughes
. He also co-founded the precursor of today's ACM SIGGRAPH
conference.
Andy serves on several technical boards and committees. He currently teaches an introductory course in computer science and courses in computer graphics
at Brown University.
, who gained national renown during his ultimately unsuccessful two-year fight with pancreatic cancer. Pausch's Last Lecture
in September 2007 was the basis for the bestseller Last Lecture. Van Dam was the final speaker after the hour-plus talk. He praised Pausch for his courage and leadership, calling him a role model. Pausch died on July 25, 2008. Dick Bulterman
and Andy Hertzfeld
also were students of Andy van Dam.
, he helped to found the computer science program at Brown as a joint project between the departments of applied mathematics and engineering
. When the program was promoted to a full department, van Dam served as its first chair, from 1979 to 1985. In 1995 van Dam was appointed Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education as well as professor of computer science.
At the University of Pennsylvania
in 1966, he became the second person to receive a Ph.D.
in Computer Science.
Van Dam is perhaps most known for building the first hypertext
system, HES
, in the late 1960s. With it and its immediate successor, FRESS, he was an early proponent of the use of hypertext in the humanities and in pedagogy. The term hypertext was coined by Ted Nelson
, who was working for him at the time. Andy's continued interest in hypertext was crucial to the development of modern markup and browsing technology, and several of his students were instrumental in the origin of XML, XSLT, and related Web standards.
He is also known for co-authoring Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice with J.D. Foley
, S.K. Feiner, and J.F. Hughes
. This book is an important text in computer graphics
and is often fondly referred to as the "Bible" of computer graphics.
In 1967, Professor van Dam co-founded ACM SICGRAPH, the precursor of today's ACM SIGGRAPH
.
Currently, Professor van Dam is teaching at Brown University. He teaches Introduction to Computer Graphics, as well as one first-year course every fall. He is also serving on the Technical Board of Microsoft Research
, as Chairman of the Rhode Island Governor's Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), and as Chairman of the IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal
committee. In 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
, and a chaired professorship was recently endowed in his honor at Brown University.
When the Brown Center for Informational Technology was built, Andy demanded it include showers and a Chinese restaurant. The showers were built and continue to be used to this day.
The character of Andy in the film Toy Story
is supposedly named for Andy van Dam. Supposedly the filmmakers, many of whom had Andy as a professor, wanted to pay tribute to his pioneering work in computer graphics. This story is told during admissions tours at Brown University and has made it into the IMDB trivia for Toy Story. van Dam denies this rumor. Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice appears on Andy's bookshelf in the film, which may be the origin of this rumor.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
-born American professor of computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and former Vice-President for Research at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. Together with Ted Nelson
Ted Nelson
Theodor Holm Nelson is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965...
he contributed to the first hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
system, HES
Hypertext Editing System
The Hypertext Editing System, or HES, was an early hypertext research project conducted at Brown University in 1967 by Andries van Dam, Ted Nelson, and several Brown students. HES was a pioneering hypertext system that organized data into two main types: links and branching text...
in the late 1960s. He co-authored Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice
Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice
Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice is a textbook written by James D. Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven K. Feiner and John Hughes and published by Addison–Wesley....
along with J.D. Foley
James D. Foley
James David Foley is a Professor and the Stephen Fleming Chair in Telecommunications in the School of Interactive Computing, and former Dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology from 2008-2010...
, S.K. Feiner, and John Hughes
John F. Hughes (computer scientist)
John F. Hughes is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of several widely-used textbooks in the field of computer graphics.-External links:*...
. He also co-founded the precursor of today's ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH is the New York–based Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam ....
conference.
Andy serves on several technical boards and committees. He currently teaches an introductory course in computer science and courses in computer graphics
Computer graphics (computer science)
Computer graphics is a sub-field of computer science which studies methods for digitally synthesizing and manipulating visual content. Although the term often refers to the study of three-dimensional computer graphics, it also encompasses two-dimensional graphics and image processing.- Overview...
at Brown University.
Students
Andy has mentored undergraduates, other scholars, and practitioners in hypertext and computer graphics. One of his students was Randy PauschRandy Pausch
Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
, who gained national renown during his ultimately unsuccessful two-year fight with pancreatic cancer. Pausch's Last Lecture
The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture is a New York Times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal...
in September 2007 was the basis for the bestseller Last Lecture. Van Dam was the final speaker after the hour-plus talk. He praised Pausch for his courage and leadership, calling him a role model. Pausch died on July 25, 2008. Dick Bulterman
Dick Bulterman
Dick C. A. Bulterman is a senior researcher at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Amsterdam, where he heads the Distributed Multimedia Languages and Interfaces theme. He is also a professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.Dr. Bulterman has made fundamental...
and Andy Hertzfeld
Andy Hertzfeld
Andy Hertzfeld is a computer scientist who was a member of the original Apple Macintosh development team during the 1980s. After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for Apple Computer from August 1979 until March 1984, where he was a designer for the Macintosh system software...
also were students of Andy van Dam.
Achievements
Originally appointed as a professor of applied mathematicsApplied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
, he helped to found the computer science program at Brown as a joint project between the departments of applied mathematics and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
. When the program was promoted to a full department, van Dam served as its first chair, from 1979 to 1985. In 1995 van Dam was appointed Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education as well as professor of computer science.
At the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1966, he became the second person to receive a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Computer Science.
Van Dam is perhaps most known for building the first hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
system, HES
Hypertext Editing System
The Hypertext Editing System, or HES, was an early hypertext research project conducted at Brown University in 1967 by Andries van Dam, Ted Nelson, and several Brown students. HES was a pioneering hypertext system that organized data into two main types: links and branching text...
, in the late 1960s. With it and its immediate successor, FRESS, he was an early proponent of the use of hypertext in the humanities and in pedagogy. The term hypertext was coined by Ted Nelson
Ted Nelson
Theodor Holm Nelson is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965...
, who was working for him at the time. Andy's continued interest in hypertext was crucial to the development of modern markup and browsing technology, and several of his students were instrumental in the origin of XML, XSLT, and related Web standards.
He is also known for co-authoring Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice with J.D. Foley
James D. Foley
James David Foley is a Professor and the Stephen Fleming Chair in Telecommunications in the School of Interactive Computing, and former Dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology from 2008-2010...
, S.K. Feiner, and J.F. Hughes
John F. Hughes (computer scientist)
John F. Hughes is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of several widely-used textbooks in the field of computer graphics.-External links:*...
. This book is an important text in computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
and is often fondly referred to as the "Bible" of computer graphics.
In 1967, Professor van Dam co-founded ACM SICGRAPH, the precursor of today's ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH is the New York–based Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam ....
.
Currently, Professor van Dam is teaching at Brown University. He teaches Introduction to Computer Graphics, as well as one first-year course every fall. He is also serving on the Technical Board of Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft created in 1991 for developing various computer science ideas and integrating them into Microsoft products. It currently employs Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare, Butler Lampson, and Charles P...
, as Chairman of the Rhode Island Governor's Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), and as Chairman of the IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal
IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal
The IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal is an award presented "for a career of outstanding contributions to education in the fields of interest of IEEE". This award may only be awarded to an individual...
committee. In 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
, and a chaired professorship was recently endowed in his honor at Brown University.
When the Brown Center for Informational Technology was built, Andy demanded it include showers and a Chinese restaurant. The showers were built and continue to be used to this day.
The character of Andy in the film Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
is supposedly named for Andy van Dam. Supposedly the filmmakers, many of whom had Andy as a professor, wanted to pay tribute to his pioneering work in computer graphics. This story is told during admissions tours at Brown University and has made it into the IMDB trivia for Toy Story. van Dam denies this rumor. Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice appears on Andy's bookshelf in the film, which may be the origin of this rumor.