Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was a
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 (al ...
and
chief technology officer (CTO) at
Xerox PARC.
Weiser is widely considered to be the father of
ubiquitous computing, a term he coined in 1988.
Within Silicon Valley, Weiser was broadly viewed as a visionary and computer pioneer, and his ideas have influenced many of the world's leading computer scientists.
Early life and education
Weiser was born in
Chicago, Illinois, to David and Audra Weiser. He grew up in
Stony Brook, New York
Stony Brook is a political subdivisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the No ...
.
He moved to
Sarasota, Florida, to study
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
at
New College of Florida
New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an aut ...
but dropped out in his second year when he ran out of money.
He then moved to
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
, where he found a job as a
computer programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
.
While working as a computer programmer he began taking
computer science classes and excelled to the point that he was directly admitted into a master's program at the
University of Michigan.
He studied Computer and Communication Science at the University of Michigan, receiving an
M.A. in 1976, and a
Ph.D. in 1979.
Career
Weiser later taught computer science at the
University of Maryland, College Park and became associate chairman of the department in 1986.
Weiser joined
PARC (then Xerox PARC) in 1987 and became manager of its computer science laboratory in 1988, the same year he pioneered the concept of
ubiquitous computing.
He became PARC's
chief technology officer in 1996.
Honors
In 2001, the
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
's special interest group in operating systems (SIGOPS) established the
Mark Weiser Award The ACM SIGOPS (Special Interest Group on Operating Systems) Mark Weiser Award is awarded to an individual who has shown creativity and innovation in operating system research. The recipients began their career no earlier than 20 years prior to nomi ...
for individuals who innovate within operating systems research. The Mark D. Weiser Excellence in Computing Scholarship Fund at the
University of California, Berkeley was also established in Weiser's memory.
Personal life
In addition to his work in the field of computer science, Weiser was also the
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
for the
avant-garde/
experimental rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band,
Severe Tire Damage, which was the first band to broadcast live over the Internet.
On April 27, 1999, Weiser died of liver failure that was caused by cancer.
Ubiquitous computing and calm technology
During one of his talks, Weiser outlined a set of principles describing
ubiquitous computing:
* The purpose of a computer is to help you do something else.
* The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant.
* The more you can do by intuition the smarter you are; the computer should extend your ''unconscious''.
* Technology should create calm.
In ''Designing Calm Technology'',
Weiser and
John Seely Brown
John Seely Brown (born 1940), also known as "JSB", is an American researcher who specializes in organizational studies with a particular bend towards the organizational implications of computer-supported activities. Brown served as Director of Xer ...
describe ''
calm technology
Calm technology or calm design is a type of information technology where the interaction between the technology and its user is designed to occur in the user's periphery rather than constantly at the center of attention. Information from the techno ...
'' as "that which informs but doesn't demand our focus or attention."
Low-powered portable computing
Weiser advocated to look at performance in non traditional ways. Instead of measuring computational performance in
MIPS, he focused on increasing the
instructions per joule
In computing, performance per watt is a measure of the energy efficiency of a particular computer architecture or computer hardware. Literally, it measures the rate of computation that can be delivered by a computer for every watt of power consume ...
of
energy, pushing the
computer industry
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progra ...
toward low-powered
portable computing.
Works
The Computer for the 21st Century - ''
'', September, 1991
References
External links
Tribute Siteestablished at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
*
Designing Calm Technology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiser, Mark
American computer scientists
1952 births
1999 deaths
American chief technology officers
Ubiquitous computing researchers
Place of death missing
University of Michigan alumni
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
People from Harvey, Illinois
Scientists at PARC (company)