John Harrison Wharton (21 September 1954 – 14 November 2018) was an American engineer specializing in

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

s and their applications. Wharton designed the

Intel MCS-51 The Intel MCS-51 (commonly termed 8051) is a single-chip microcontroller (MCU) series developed by Intel in 1980 for use in embedded systems. The architect of the Intel MCS-51 instruction set was John H. Wharton.. Intel's original versions w ...

, one of the most implemented instruction set architectures of all time.

Education and career

John Wharton grew up in

Neenah, Wisconsin Neenah ( ) is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River (Green Bay tributary), Fox River approximately northeast of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, O ...

, graduating from

Neenah High School Neenah High School is a public high school located in Neenah, Wisconsin. It is the only traditional high school of the Neenah Joint School District. As of fall 2008, approximately 2250 students were enrolled in grades 9 through 12, making it one ...

in 1972. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1976 and a master's degree in computer science in 1977, having earlier attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

for two years before transferring to Northwestern. He was hired by Intel at the instigation of

Tom Rolander Thomas Alan Rolander is an American entrepreneur, engineer, and developer of the multitasking multiuser operating system MP/M created for microcomputers in 1979 while working as one of the first employees of Digital Research with Gary Kildall, ...

, working there for 5 years before leaving to start his consulting company, Applications Research. He was a founding member of the editorial board of ''

Microprocessor Report ''Microprocessor Report'' is a newsletter covering the microprocessor industry. The publication is accessible only to paying subscribers. To avoid bias, it does not take advertisements. The publication provides extensive analysis of new high-perf ...

.'' He first spoke at the Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop in 1980, along with

Carver Mead Carver Andress Mead (born 1 May 1934) is an American scientist and engineer. He currently holds the position of Gordon and Betty Moore Professor Emeritus of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), ...

Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...

Dave Patterson David Glenn Patterson (born July 25, 1956) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who made 36 relief appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers in its 1979 season. Listed at 6' 0", 170 lb., Patterson batted and threw right handed. He was b ...

and

Gary Kildall Gary Arlen Kildall (; May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994) was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur. During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, and s ...

. He first chaired a session in 1983, and became chair of the workshop in 1985, a position he continued to hold through 1997. He was Program Chair from 1999 through 2017. From 1989 to 2004, with

Dennis Allison Dennis Allison is a lecturer at Stanford University, a position he has held since 1976. Allison was a founding member of the People's Computer Company. Allison in 1975 wrote a specification for a microcomputer interpreter for the BASIC progr ...

, he coordinated Stanford University's EE380 course. J. H. Wharton was the architect of the

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...

of the

, commonly known as the 8051. The MCS-51 and its derivatives are

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

's highest volume microprocessor, and among the most implemented instruction set architectures of all time. Wharton was the subject of a 1999 ''New York Times'' profile, and a 2001 article about his trips to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

to collect debris from the deorbit of the Mir space station. In 1996 he appeared on

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

. His friends have created a memorial Web site.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wharton, John Harrison 1954 births 2018 deaths Yale University alumni Northwestern University alumni American software engineers