10 Famous Computer Science Grads

Computer scientists are the masterminds behind the development and success of computers and the Internet. Throughout their education and research, computer science grads have made major contributions to the field of computer science and information technology. Some of their creations may ring a bell, while others are often overlooked, but either way, they deserve acknowledgement for their important contributions. Here are 10 famous computer science grads:

1. Sergey Brin
   Sergey Brin is one of the most influential and wealthiest computer scientists of all time. He is co-founder of the search engine giant, Google Inc., and currently serves as its president of technology. Brin, a Russian immigrant, earned his bachelor of science degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park, and received his master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. It was there that Brin dropped out of the computer science Ph.D. program and begun creating Google with fellow classmate, Larry Page.



2. Larry Page
   
   Lawrence “Larry” Page is the other Google guy, who co-founded Google Inc., along with Sergey Brin. Page currently serves as Google’s president of products. Page earned a bachelor of science degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan, where he demonstrated his engineering talents when he built an inkjet printer our of Lego bricks. Page went on to earn his master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University, but also dropped out of the computer science Ph.D. program to create Google.



3. Ronald Linn Rivest
   Computer scientist and MIT professor Ronald Linn Rivest, has accomplished a great deal in the areas of cryptography, computer and network security, electronic voting systems and algorithms. Rivest is the founder of RSA Security, formerly known as RSA Data Security, as well as co-founder of Verisign and Peppercoin. Rivest received a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.



4. Barbara Liskov
   Barbara Liskov is a computer scientist, an engineering professor at MIT and major contributor to the field of computer science. Throughout her career, Liskov has led several research projects, such as the Venus operating system, initiating the design and implementation of CLU Argus and the object-oriented database system, Thor. Liskov made history as the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in computer science. She completed her Ph.D. program at Stanford University, and the topic of her thesis was about computer games for playing chess end games.



5. Ken Thompson
   
   Ken Thompson has brought several valuable creations to the field of computer science. He is most well known for his contributions to the B programming language, leading Unix and Plan 9 operating systems, as well as being the co-creator of Google’s programming language, Go. Thompson has his master’s degree in both electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.



6. Ray Ozzie
   Ray Ozzie succeeded Bill Gates as the current chief software architect at Microsoft, in addition to creating Lotus Notes. Ozzie earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.



7. Linus Torvalds
   Linus Torvalds, a Finnish software engineer, has many notable accomplishments in the field of computer science. Torvalds is the creator and developer of the operating system, Linux kernel, and git, a revision control system. He received a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Helsinki and its NODES research group.



8. David Chaum
   David Chaum is a pioneer in cryptography, the study of encoding, specifically within the areas of blind signature schemes, commitment schemes and digital cash. Chaum is the founder of DigiCash Inc., an electronic cash organization, and remains a member of the Board of Directors. This well-published computer scientist has more than 45 published technical articles and has received more than 17 U.S. patents. Chaum earned his Ph.D. in computer science, and a minor in business administration, from the University of California, Berkeley.



9. Alan T. Sherman
   Alan T. Sherman has shared his knowledge of computer science and his research on security of voting systems, cryptology, information assurance and discrete algorithms, as an accomplished computer science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Sherman serves as the director of UMBC’s Center for Information Security and Assurance (CISA). He received his Ph.D. in computer science from MIT.



10. Radia Perlman
    Software designer Radia Perlman is another major contributor to the field of computer science, specifically for her invention of the spanning tree protocol, a necessary component for the function of network bridges. Perlman’s innovations have contributed to many areas of network design and standardization. Perlman earned a Ph.D. in computer science from MIT, in which she focused on routing issues during network failures.

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