Harold W. "Bud" Lawson (1937–2019) was a

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

computer architect In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, th ...

and

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking ...

. Lawson is credited with the 1964 invention of the pointer in

high-level programming language In computer science, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ''elements'', be easier to u ...

s (with "a lot of comments" from

Donald Knuth Donald Ervin Knuth ( ; born January 10, 1938) is an American computer scientist, mathematician, and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is the 1974 recipient of the ACM Turing Award, informally considered the Nobel Prize of computer sc ...

and

Douglas McIlroy Malcolm Douglas McIlroy (born 1932) is a mathematician, engineer, and programmer. As of 2019 he is an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College. McIlroy is best known for having originally proposed Unix pipelines and developed se ...

). In 2000, Lawson was presented the Computer Pioneer Award by the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...

for his invention. In July, 2010 he published a new book entitled ''A Journey Through the Systems Landscape'' () with

College Publications A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. The book provides a comprehensive discipline-independent approach to learning to "think" and "act" in terms of systems. Amongst several academic appointments, his last position was as Professor of

Telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

and Computer Systems at

Linköping University Linköping University (, LiU) is a public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions. The university has fou ...

where he co-founded its Department of Computer and Information Science in 1983. He is a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of ACM, Fellow and Life Member of the

, and Fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering

INCOSE The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE; pronounced in-co-see) is a not-for-profit membership organization and professional society in the field of systems engineering. INCOSE has about 17000 members including individual members, ...

Charles Babbage Computer Pioneer and

Systems Engineering Pioneer. Bud died in Stockholm on June 10, 2019, after a period of illness.

References

6. Alvaro Videla. Kateryna L. Yushchenko — Inventor of Pointers (Dec 8, 2018). A Computer of One's Own Pioneers of the Computing Age https://medium.com/a-computer-of-ones-own/kateryna-l-yushchenko-inventor-of-pointers-6f2796fa1798 1937 births 2019 deaths American computer scientists American software engineers American emigrants to Sweden Academic staff of Linköping University {{Compu-bio-stub