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Johns Frederick (Jeff) Rulifson (born August 20, 1941) is an American
computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
.


Early life and education

Johns Frederick Rulifson was born August 20, 1941, in
Bellefontaine, Ohio Bellefontaine ( ) is a city in Logan County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Columbus, the population was 14,115 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bellefontaine micropolit ...
. His father was Erwin Charles Rulifson and mother was Virginia Helen Johns. Rulifson married Janet Irving on June 8, 1963, and had two children. He received a B.S. in
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
from the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
in 1966. Rulifson earned a Ph.D. in computer science from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1973.


Career

Rulifson joined the
Augmentation Research Center SRI International's Augmentation Research Center (ARC) was founded in the 1960s by electrical engineer Douglas Engelbart to develop and experiment with new tools and techniques for collaboration and information processing. The main product to ...
, at the Stanford Research Institute (now
SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...
) in 1966, working on a form of software called “timesharing”. He led the software team that implemented the oN-Line System (NLS), a system that foreshadowed many future developments in modern computing and networking. Specifically, Rulifson developed the command language for the NLS, among other features. His first job was to create the first display-based on the CDC 3100, and the programs he wrote included the first online editor. He also redesigned its file structure. Rulifson was also lead programmer and wrote the program and demonstration files for the first public demonstration of the computer mouse in 1968. He was also the chief programmer of the first use of hypertext. Although
Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer, inventor, and a pioneer in many aspects of computer science. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...
was the founder and leader of ARC, Rulifson's innovative programming was essential to the realization of Engelbart's vision. Rulifson was also involved in the development of NIL. Rulifson was the SRI's representative to the "network working group" in 1968, which led to the first connection on the
ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the tec ...
. He described the Decode-Encode Language (DEL), which was designed to allow remote use of NLS over ARPANET. Although never used, the idea was small "programs" would be down-loaded to enhance user interaction. This concept was fully developed in
Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...
's
Java programming language Java is a high-level, general-purpose, memory-safe, object-oriented programming language. It is intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywhere'' ( WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Jav ...
almost 30 years later, as
applet In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a dedicated widget engine or a larger program, often as a plug-in. The term is frequently used to refer to a Java applet, a program ...
s. Simultaneously, he was involved in the development of the AI programming language QA4. This system was used for the planning done by Shakey, one of the first robots. He left SRI to join the System Sciences Laboratory (SSL) within
Xerox PARC Future Concepts division (formerly Palo Alto Research Center, PARC and Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. It was founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, as a div ...
in 1973. Here he began work on personal computing and the creation of local networks. One of his first actions was to develop the concept for the desktop icon. By 1978 he was the manager of the center's Office Research Group, where he introduced the use of interdisciplinary scholars into the group's work. Specifically, he was the first computer scientist to begin working alongside anthropologists, hiring several at Xerox to improve their use of field research and enter the field of social science research. At PARC, he worked on implementing distributed office systems. In 1980, he worked for
ROLM ROLM Corporation was a Silicon Valley technology company founded in 1969 by four electrical engineers: Gene Richeson, Ken Oshman, Walter Loewenstern, and Robert Maxfield. The company is best known for creating a computerized telephone switchi ...
as an engineering manager and joined Syntelligence, an artificial intelligence applications vendor in
Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...
, in 1985. He began working for Sun Microsystems Laboratories in 1987, and held positions including as a director of engineering, technology development, and research groups. He then managed
Ivan Sutherland Ivan Edward Sutherland (born May 16, 1938) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer, widely regarded as a pioneer of computer graphics. His early work in computer graphics as well as his teaching with David C. Evans in that subje ...
's lab from 2003 until his retirement. He is an emeritus board member of the Doug Engelbart Institute and Chairman of The Open Group. Jeff Rulifsons papers and research from 1956 to 1997 are held at the Computer History Museum, with a guide to his work entitled Guide to the Jeff Rulifson papers, written by Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott.


Awards

In 1990, Rulifson won the
Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...
's Software System Award for implementing groundbreaking innovations such as
hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typic ...
, outline processors, and
video conferencing Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...
. In 1994, he was inducted as a
Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the Association for Computing Machinery, for his “pioneering work on augmenting human intellect with hypertext, outline processors, and video conferencing.” In 2006 Rulifson was named to the SRI International Hall of Fame.


References


External links


Jeff Rulifson Google homepage
*
Augmentation Research Center Status Report, March, 1967
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rulifson, Jeff 1941 births Living people American computer scientists 1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery SRI International people University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Stanford University alumni People from Bellefontaine, Ohio Engineers from Ohio