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 (a ...

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 wa ...

, along with Tom Truscott. 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 ...

to Henry Ellis (an auditor and teacher) and Elsa Ellis. James Ellis grew up in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

. Before developing Usenet, Ellis attended

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

. After graduating, Ellis worked for the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina 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, t ...

. 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 tiredne ...

, a form of blood cancer, at his home in

Harmony, Pennsylvania Harmony is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 890 at the 2010 census. It is located approximately north of Pittsburgh. Geography Harmony is located in southwestern Butler County, along the northeastern ...

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. new ...

, 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