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Dennis Ritchie Born
Dennis Ritchie is born -
Undergraduate Degree from Harvard
Dennis Ritchie receives his undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard -
Hired at Bell Labs
Ritchie joins Bell Labs in the Computing Sciences Research Center
Unknown. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Lemelson Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/dennis-m-ritchie. Accessed 26 October 2018. -
Doctorate in Mathematics from Harvard
Ritchie receives his doctorate degree in the field of mathematics from Harvard University. -
UNIX Operating System Created
Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson work together to create the UNIX operating system. Created with the B programming language.
Unknown. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Lemelson Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/dennis-m-ritchie. Accessed 26 October 2018. -
UNIX Ported to PDP-11
Bell Labs ports the operating system to a PDP-11 for the Patent Office at the Labs.
Van Vleck, Tom. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Association for Computing Machinery. https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/ritchie_1506389.cfm. Accessed 27 October 2018. -
C Language Invented
Ritchie creates the C programming language after the development of UNIX -
UNIX Rewritten in C
After porting UNIX to different AT&T systems, the operating system is rewritten in the C language.
Van Vleck, Tom. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Association for Computing Machinery. https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/ritchie_1506389.cfm. Accessed 27 October 2018. -
UNIX Popularity
About 600 systems were running UNIX, and continued to be ported to smaller computers.
Van Vleck, Tom. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Association for Computing Machinery. https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/ritchie_1506389.cfm. Accessed 27 October 2018. -
Turing Award
For his contributions to the UNIX OS, Ritchie and Thompson receive the Turing Award -
Head of System Software Research Department
Appointed as head of the department at Bell Labs and led further development in software.
Hosch, William. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 September 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dennis-M-Ritchie. Accessed 26 October 2018. -
Plan 9 Released
Ritchie's group of researchers develop the Plan 9 OS and release it to the public. -
U.S. National Medal of Honor
Both Ritchie and Thompson receive a Medal of Honor for their development of UNIX.
Hosch, William. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 September 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dennis-M-Ritchie. Accessed 26 October 2018. -
Dennis Ritchie Retires
After the different company merges with Bell Labs, Ritchie retires from head of his department.
Van Vleck, Tom. “Dennis M. Ritchie”. Association for Computing Machinery. https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/ritchie_1506389.cfm. Accessed 27 October 2018. -
Dennis Ritchie Passes Away
In 2011, Ritchie passes away.
