Peter Jay Weinberger (born August 6, 1942) is 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 (a ...
best known for his early work at
Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...
. He now works at
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
.
Weinberger was an undergraduate at
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...
, graduating in 1964. He received his PhD in mathematics (
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Ma ...
) in 1969 from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
under
Derrick Henry Lehmer
Derrick Henry "Dick" Lehmer (February 23, 1905 – May 22, 1991), almost always cited as D.H. Lehmer, was an American mathematician significant to the development of computational number theory. Lehmer refined Édouard Lucas' work in the 1930s and ...
for a thesis entitled "Proof of a Conjecture of Gauss on Class Number Two". After holding a position in the Department of Mathematics at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, Ann Arbor, where he continued his work in
analytic number theory
In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Diri ...
, he moved to
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...
.
At Bell Labs, Weinberger contributed to the design of the
AWK programming language (he is the "W" in AWK), and the
Fortran compiler
f77.
A detailed explanation of his contributions to AWK and other Unix tools is found in a
interview transcriptat
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
.
Another interview sheds some light on his work at Google.
Both interviews also confirm rumors about his involvement in early digital photography, especially the abuse of a photograph of his face for demonstrating digital imaging effects. When Peter Weinberger was promoted to head of Computer Science Research at Bell Labs, his picture was merged with the AT&T "death star" logo of the mid-80s, creating th
PJW Faceimage that has appeared in innumerable locations, including T-shirts, coffee mugs, CDs, and at least one water tower. Th
sole remaining PJW Faceat Bell Labs is somewhat in disarray, but there are plans afoot to repair it.
Prior to joining Google, Weinberger was chief technology officer at
Renaissance Technologies. Weinberger has been a member of the
JASON defense advisory group since 1990. He has an
Erdos Number of 2.
Writings
* ''The book's webpage includes downloads of the current implementation of Awk and links to others.''
References
External links
*
Web site dedicated to PJW's face*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberger, Peter J.
Living people
American computer scientists
Scientists at Bell Labs
Google employees
Programming language designers
Swarthmore College alumni
1942 births
American chief technology officers
University of Michigan faculty
Members of JASON (advisory group)
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews