James Tice Ellis (May 6, 1956June 28, 2001) was 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 ...
best known as the co-creator of
Usenet
Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...
, along with
Tom Truscott.
Ellis was born in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
to Henry Ellis (an auditor and teacher) and Elsa Ellis. James Ellis grew up in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. Before developing Usenet, Ellis attended
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
. After graduating, Ellis worked for the
Microelectronics Center of North Carolina in Research Triangle Park, N.C. He later worked as an Internet security consultant for
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 ...
. He was also Manager of Technical Development at
CERT. He came up with the word ''Usenet''.
Ellis and Truscott were awarded the 1995
USENIX
USENIX is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization based in Berkeley, California and founded in 1975 that supports advanced computing systems, operating system (OS), and computer networking research. It organizes several confe ...
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Personal life and death
Ellis and his wife, Carolyn, had two children.
He died of
non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...
, a form of blood cancer, at his home in
Harmony, Pennsylvania
Harmony is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 890 at the 2010 census. It is located approximately north of Pittsburgh.
Geography
Harmony is located in southwestern Butler County ...
on June 28, 2001. He was 45.
References
External links
Usenet creator Jim Ellis dies ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, on
USAToday.com'', June 29, 2001, retrieved on December 22, 2006.
Second Annual EFF Pioneer Awards
1956 births
2001 deaths
Scientists from Nashville, Tennessee
Duke University alumni
American computer scientists
Usenet people
Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Deaths from lymphoma in the United States
Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania
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