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Birth
Dennis Ritchie was born on September 9th, 1941 in Bronxville, New York. -
Earned a Job at Bell Labs
In 1967, Ritchie began to work at Bell Labs, where his father had worked before him. Here, he worked closely with a man named Kenneth Thompson and they began to work on a project called the Unix. -
Graduated from Harvard
In 1968, Ritchie graduated from Harvard University with degrees in Mathematics and Physics. He earned his PhD with a thesis about "Program Structure and Computational Complexity". -
Bell Labs Removes Multics Operating System
In 1969, Bell Labs decides to remove themselves from the Multics operating system project that Ritchie and Thompson were working together on. Ritchie aided Thompson in producing this single-memory operating system. -
UNIX is Released
On November 3, 1971, Ritchie and Thompson release the UNIX operating system which derived from Multics. The UNIX was a multiuser operating system that was able to function on a variety of platforms and ultimately changed technology forever. -
"C" Language is Introduced
Because the UNIX was written in machine language, Ritchie worked endlessly to create a language that simplified the system, as well as make it more accessible to other computers. Thus the "C" Language was created and was implemented into the UNIX system. -
ACM Programming Systems and Languages Paper
Ritchie received this award for his work on his paper about his languages and systems regarding the UNIX. -
IEEE Emanuel Piore Award
In 1982, Ritchie and Thompson are awarded the IEEE Emmanuel Piore Award. "For the creation and development of an operating system of high utility, availability, and instructive value, as embodied in UNIX and its related facilities." -
A.M. Turing Award
Ritchie and Thompson are both awarded the A.M.Turing an award due to the development of their generic operating system theory, specifically the UNIX operating system. -
ACM Software System Award
Both Ritchie and Thompson are awarded this for their generic operating systems theory and their UNIX operating system. -
United States National Academy of Engineering
In 1988, Ritchie was elected into the United States National Academy of Engineering. -
Dennis Ritchie is Promoted
Ritchie is promoted to leader of the Computing Techniques Research Department at Lucent Technologies (previously known as Bell Labs). Here he managed the growth of operating systems and oversaw applications. -
Computer Pioneer Award
In 1994, Ritchie is awarded the Computer Pioneer Award for his contribution to the UNIX operating system. -
Plan 9 Operating System
In 1995, Ritchie released the Plan 9 operating system. Along with his team, he worked to integrate graphics and forms of networking into the UNIX operating system, which is known as Plan 9. -
Inferno Operating System
The Inferno Operating System was developed by Dennis Ritchie on behalf of Bell Labs. The operating system was a distributed operating system as free software. -
U.S. National Medal of Technology Award
Ritchie and Thompson are recognized by current president, Bill Clinton, for their work on the UNIX operating system as well as their work on the "C" programming language. -
Death
On October 12th in 2011, Dennis Ritchie passes away in Berkeley Heights, NJ.
