Collaboration That Changed Computing

Meet 2019 NIHF Inductees Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie!

We are honored to have Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie join the National Inventors Hall of Fame^®.

The Invention

Co-inventors Thompson and Ritchie invented the UNIX Operating System, a multi-tasking, multi-user operating system, during the 1960s and 1970s. They are also responsible for developing the C programming language.

Compared to the complex systems built before it, UNIX introduced a design philosophy that emphasized simplicity.

“It has no more than it needs. It doesn’t have any bells, no whistles. It just does what it’s supposed to do. I think that’s the difference between UNIX and operating systems, especially before UNIX.” Thompson said.

UNIX completed tasks more efficiently and saved space on computers. The C Programming language was written to simplify the development of UNIX.

“C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success,” Ritchie said.

The Inventors

“You don’t just pick up somebody who doesn’t want to work with you, and you don’t pick up somebody who’s not interested in whatever you’re working on,” Thompson said.

Thompson and Ritchie met while working on another operating system project at Bell Labs. When the project was cancelled, the pair found themselves unable to give up on developing a simpler operating system.

“Once he got an idea, he was almost a bulldog. He’d just work on it until it broke, until it happened,” Thompson said about Ritchie.

They unveiled UNIX and it was quickly adopted by Bell Labs and then licensed to universities and other non-educational organizations.  

The Impact

Today, UNIX and UNIX-like systems continue to operate computers and machinery around the world. The influence of UNIX can be seen in programs like Linux and iOS.

Thompson and Ritchie have been awarded the Japan Prize, National Medal of Technology and the A.M. Turning Award from the Association of Computer Machinery.

The pair will join the ranks of other global innovators in the National Inventors Hall of Fame during the 2019 Induction Ceremony on May 2.