Dennis Ritchie (1941–2011)

• Co-created C (1972) – simple, efficient, portable; basis for C++, Java, etc.
• Co-developed Unix (1969–70s) – modular, multi-user OS; ancestor of Linux, macOS, BSD.
• Authored “K&R” C book (1978) – definitive standard.
• Pioneered pipes, hierarchical files, “everything is a file”.
• Awards: Turing (1983), National Medal of Technology (1998), Japan Prize (2011).

Enabled portable software and the internet’s backbone.