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Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Started school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 16. Was a member of the Tech Model Railroad Club.
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Developed the first computer chess program with his professor John McCarthy. This became the basis for his thesis.
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Started as a Student Staff Programmer at the Research Lab for Electronics. During this time he worked on programs such as the Expensive Tape Recorder, T-Square, and Spacewar!
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Worked with David Gross to develop the digital audio program.
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Program written for the PDP-1 by Peter Samson and Alan Kotok. The program was designed to move the cursor in the game Spacewar! that was under early developments.
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Worked with a number of other MIT Hackers to create the first ever video game, known as Spacewar! The game was specifically designed for the PDP-1 that was available in their lab. Kotok is credited as creating the first-ever control box with Robert Saunders.
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Received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Kotok's career at DEC lasted for 34 years. He served in various positions, including many senior engineering positions. Worked on the PDP-6, PDP-10, DECsystem-10 and DECsystem-20.
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Served as an assistant logic designer on a team that developed the PDP-6. 1963-1964.
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While at DEC, he served as the Chief Architect for the PDP-10. This computer was the first computer that made time sharing a common feature.
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Received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Taught Logic Design at the University of California, Berkeley during the 1975-1976 school year.
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Went back to school and earned a Master in Business Administration from Clark University. This served useful in future positions with DEC and the World Wide Web Consortium.
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System Architect for the VAX 8600, a minicomputer produced by DEC.
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In 1994, Kotok traveled to Geneva with other employees from DEC to speak with Tim Berners-Lee. This led to the eventual founding of the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3).
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Served as a Word Wide Web Consortium Advisory Committee Representative for DEC from 1994-1996.
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Served as Vice President of Marketing for GC Tech Inc. from 1996 to 1997.
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At the 6th World Wide Web Conference (WWW6) in Santa Clara, California Kotok organized a meeting on the Selection of Payment Vehicle for Internet Purchases.
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Presented on Micropayment Systems to the Electronic Payments Forum in La Jolla, California.
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After retiring from DEC, Kotok took on the position of Associate Chairman of the World Wide Web Consortium. He was in charge of contractual relations with members. He remained in this position until his death.
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Alan Kotok died of a heart attack while at his home in Cambridge, MA. He was 64 years old.
