Donald D. Chamberlin
Encyclopedia
Donald D. Chamberlin is an American
computer scientist
who is best known as one of the principal designers of the original SQL
language specification with Raymond Boyce
. He also made significant contributions to the development of XQuery
.
, in the USA. After attending Campbell High School he studied engineering at Harvey Mudd College
from where he holds a B.S. After graduating he went to Stanford University
on an National Science Foundation
grant where he studied electrical engineering and minored in computer science. Chamberlin holds a M.Sc and a PhD
degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. After graduating Chamberlin went to work for IBM Research
at the Yorktown Heights research facility in New York
where he had previously had a summer internship.
Chamberlin is probably best known as co-inventor of SQL (Structured Query Language), the world's most widely-used database language. Developed in the mid-1970s by Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce, SQL was the first commercially successful language for relational databases. Chamberlin also was one of the managers of IBM's System R project, which produced the first SQL implementation and developed much of IBM's relational database technology. System R, together with the Ingres project at U.C. Berkeley, received the ACM Software System Award in 1988.
Until his retirement in 2009 he was based at the Almaden Research Center
. He was appointed an IBM Fellow
in 2003.
In 2000, jointly with Jonathan Robie and Daniela Florescu, he drafted a proposal for an XML query language called Quilt. Many ideas from this proposal found their way into the XQuery
language specification, which was developed by W3C with Chamberlin as principal editor. XQuery
became a W3C Recommendation in January 2007.
Chamberlin is also an ACM
Fellow, IEEE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering
. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zurich
. He was awarded the 2009 Fellowship of the Computer Science Museum for his fundamental work on SQL.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who is best known as one of the principal designers of the original SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
language specification with Raymond Boyce
Raymond F. Boyce
Raymond 'Ray' Boyce was an American computer scientist who was known for his research in relational databases.Boyce grew up in New York, and went to college in Providence, Rhode Island. He earned his PhD in computer science at Purdue in 1971 . After leaving Purdue he worked on database projects...
. He also made significant contributions to the development of XQuery
XQuery
- Features :XQuery provides the means to extract and manipulate data from XML documents or any data source that can be viewed as XML, such as relational databases or office documents....
.
Biography
Donald D. Chamberlin was born in San JoseSan Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, in the USA. After attending Campbell High School he studied engineering at Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....
from where he holds a B.S. After graduating he went to Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
on an National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
grant where he studied electrical engineering and minored in computer science. Chamberlin holds a M.Sc and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. After graduating Chamberlin went to work for IBM Research
IBM Research
IBM Research, a division of IBM, is a research and advanced development organization and currently consists of eight locations throughout the world and hundreds of projects....
at the Yorktown Heights research facility in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
where he had previously had a summer internship.
Chamberlin is probably best known as co-inventor of SQL (Structured Query Language), the world's most widely-used database language. Developed in the mid-1970s by Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce, SQL was the first commercially successful language for relational databases. Chamberlin also was one of the managers of IBM's System R project, which produced the first SQL implementation and developed much of IBM's relational database technology. System R, together with the Ingres project at U.C. Berkeley, received the ACM Software System Award in 1988.
Until his retirement in 2009 he was based at the Almaden Research Center
Almaden Research Center
The IBM Almaden Research Center is in San Jose, California, and is one of IBM's nine worldwide research labs. Its scientists perform basic and applied research in computer science, services, storage systems, physical sciences, and materials science and technology. The center opened in 1986, and...
. He was appointed an IBM Fellow
IBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM’s CEO. Typically only 4 to 9 IBM Fellows are appointed each year, at the annual Corporate Technical Recognition Event in May or June. It is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.The IBM Fellows program...
in 2003.
In 2000, jointly with Jonathan Robie and Daniela Florescu, he drafted a proposal for an XML query language called Quilt. Many ideas from this proposal found their way into the XQuery
XQuery
- Features :XQuery provides the means to extract and manipulate data from XML documents or any data source that can be viewed as XML, such as relational databases or office documents....
language specification, which was developed by W3C with Chamberlin as principal editor. XQuery
XQuery
- Features :XQuery provides the means to extract and manipulate data from XML documents or any data source that can be viewed as XML, such as relational databases or office documents....
became a W3C Recommendation in January 2007.
Chamberlin is also an ACM
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...
Fellow, IEEE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
. He was awarded the 2009 Fellowship of the Computer Science Museum for his fundamental work on SQL.
Research
In 1988, Chamberlin was awarded the ACM Software Systems Award for his work on System R.Current Work
He is currently teaching undergraduate programming at the University of California, Santa CruzUniversity of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
.
External links
- Chamberlin's bio at IBM Research
- Oral history interview with Donald D. Chamberlin Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
In this oral history Chamberlin recounts his early life, his education at Harvey Mudd College and Stanford University, and his work on relational database technology. Chamberlin was a member of the System R research team and, with Raymond F. BoyceRaymond F. BoyceRaymond 'Ray' Boyce was an American computer scientist who was known for his research in relational databases.Boyce grew up in New York, and went to college in Providence, Rhode Island. He earned his PhD in computer science at Purdue in 1971 . After leaving Purdue he worked on database projects...
, developed the SQLSQLSQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
database language. Chamberlin also briefly discusses his more recent research on XML query language.