Jack Elton Bresenham (born 11 October 1937,
Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the ...
,
US) is a former professor of
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
.
Biography
Bresenham retired from 27 years of service at
IBM as a Senior Technical Staff Member in 1987. He taught for 16 years at
Winthrop University
Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina, schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, ...
and has nine
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
s.
He has four children: Janet, Craig, Linda, and David.
Bresenham's line algorithm
Bresenham's line algorithm is a line drawing algorithm that determines the points of an ''n''-dimensional raster that should be selected in order to form a close approximation to a straight line between two points. It is commonly used to draw li ...
, developed in 1962, is his most well-known innovation. It determines which points on a 2-dimensional
raster should be plotted in order to form a straight line between two given points, and is commonly used to draw lines on a computer screen. It is one of the earliest algorithms discovered in the field of
computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
. The
midpoint circle algorithm
In computer graphics, the midpoint circle algorithm is an algorithm used to determine the points needed for rasterizing a circle. Bresenham's circle algorithm is derived from the midpoint circle algorithm. The algorithm can be generalized to con ...
shares some similarities to his line algorithm and is known as ''Bresenham's circle algorithm''.
*
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
,
Stanford University, 1964
*
MSIE,
Stanford University, 1960
*
BSEE,
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
, 1959
See also
*
List of computer scientists
This is a list of computer scientists, people who do work in computer science, in particular researchers and authors.
Some persons notable as programmers are included here because they work in research as well as program. A few of these people ...
*
Bresenham's line algorithm
Bresenham's line algorithm is a line drawing algorithm that determines the points of an ''n''-dimensional raster that should be selected in order to form a close approximation to a straight line between two points. It is commonly used to draw li ...
References
External links
DADS entry on Bresenham's algorithm
1937 births
Living people
American computer scientists
IBM employees
Stanford University alumni
University of New Mexico alumni
People from Clovis, New Mexico
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