Raphael Finkel (born 1951) is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (a ...

and a professor at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state' ...

.Homepage at the University of Kentucky
/ref> He compiled the first version of the

Jargon File The Jargon File is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and others of the old ARPANET ...

.The Jargon File
/ref> He is the author of ''An Operating Systems Vade Mecum'',An Operating Systems Vade Mecum, full 1988 edition
downloadable from the author's website. a textbook on

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s, and ''Advanced Programming Language Design'',- Advanced Programming Language Design
, full 1996 downloadable edition, linked from the author's website.. an introductory book on

programming paradigm Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms. Some paradigms are concerned mainly with implications for the execution model of the language, suc ...

s. Finkel and J.L. Bentley created the data structure called the

quadtree A quadtree is a tree data structure in which each internal node has exactly four children. Quadtrees are the two-dimensional analog of octrees and are most often used to partition a two-dimensional space by recursively subdividing it into four ...

Biography

Finkel was born in Chicago. He entered the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

, where he earned his BA in mathematics and MA in

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely r ...

. He then earned a PhD at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

under the supervision of

Vinton Cerf Vinton Gray Cerf (; born June 23, 1943) is an American Internet pioneer and is recognized as one of " the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with TCP/IP co-developer Bob Kahn. He has received honorary degrees and awards that include t ...

. Finkel is also an activist for the survival of the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

language, promoting its use and providing fonts, various texts, and tools for writing Yiddish in personal computers. y
רפֿאלס ייִדיש וועב–בלעטל
Refoyls yidish veb-bletl, lit=Raphael's Yiddish Webpage, rtl=yes, label=

Notes

External links

*http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~santhas/research/paper1/node4.html * {{DEFAULTSORT:Finkel, Raphael Living people 1951 births American computer scientists University of Chicago alumni Stanford University alumni University of Kentucky faculty 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews