James Tice Ellis (May 6, 1956June 28, 2001) was an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus ( ...

best known as the co-creator of

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

, along with

Tom Truscott Tom Truscott is an American computer scientist best known for creating Usenet with Jim Ellis, when both were graduate students at Duke University. He is also a member of ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 U ...

. Ellis was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

to Henry Ellis (an auditor and teacher) and Elsa Ellis. James Ellis grew up in Orlando, Florida. Before developing Usenet, Ellis attended Duke University. After graduating, Ellis worked for the

Microelectronics Center of North Carolina Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre- ...

in Research Triangle Park, N.C. He later worked as an Internet security consultant for

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

. He was also Manager of Technical Development at CERT. He came up with the word ''Usenet''. Ellis and Truscott were awarded the 1995 USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life and death

Ellis and his wife, Carolyn, had two children. He died of

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tire ...

, a form of blood cancer, at his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania on June 28, 2001. He was 45.

References

External links

Usenet creator Jim Ellis dies
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

, on USAToday.com'', June 29, 2001, retrieved on December 22, 2006.
Second Annual EFF Pioneer Awards
1956 births 2001 deaths People from Nashville, Tennessee Duke University alumni American computer scientists Usenet people Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania {{Internet-stub