W. Daniel Hillis

W. Daniel Hillis
Name	W. Daniel Hillis
Birth date	25 September 1956
Birth place	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	Computer science, Parallel computing, Applied physics
Workplaces	Thinking Machines Corporation, Walt Disney Imagineering, MIT Media Lab, Applied Minds
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	Marvin Minsky, Claude Shannon
Known for	Connection Machine, Clock of the Long Now
Awards	Dan David Prize, Grace Murray Hopper Award, Computer History Museum Fellow

W. Daniel Hillis is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and computer scientist renowned for pioneering work in parallel computing and artificial intelligence. He is best known as the co-founder of Thinking Machines Corporation and the principal architect of the revolutionary Connection Machine, a massively parallel supercomputer. His later career has spanned roles at Walt Disney Imagineering, co-founding Applied Minds, and leading long-term projects like the Clock of the Long Now.

Early life and education

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Hillis demonstrated an early aptitude for engineering and computation. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his undergraduate studies, where he worked in the famed MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory under pioneers like Marvin Minsky. He pursued a doctorate in the same institution, advised by Minsky and information theory founder Claude Shannon, completing a Ph.D. in computer science with a thesis that laid the conceptual groundwork for his future architectural innovations.

Career and research

Hillis's professional career began in earnest at the MIT Media Lab, where he continued his research into novel computing architectures. His seminal work focused on moving beyond the limitations of the traditional von Neumann architecture by exploring models of computation inspired by biological systems. This research directly led to the founding of Thinking Machines Corporation in 1983, a venture that sought to commercialize his ideas and fundamentally challenge the computing industry's trajectory during the 1980s and 1990s.

Connection Machine and parallel computing

At Thinking Machines Corporation, Hillis spearheaded the development of the Connection Machine, a landmark in supercomputer design. The machine, notably the Connection Machine CM-1 and Connection Machine CM-2, utilized thousands of simple microprocessors operating in parallel, a radical departure from the dominant Cray Research vector processors. This architecture proved exceptionally powerful for problems in artificial intelligence, computational fluid dynamics, and molecular modeling, influencing subsequent designs from companies like Intel and IBM. The project garnered significant attention from agencies like DARPA and placed Hillis at the forefront of high-performance computing.

Later work and ventures

Following Thinking Machines Corporation's decline, Hillis joined Walt Disney Imagineering as a Disney Fellow, contributing to advanced research and development for theme park attractions and experiential technologies. In 2000, he co-founded the research and development company Applied Minds with former Disney colleague Bran Ferren. His later projects include co-founding the Long Now Foundation with Stewart Brand, for which he designed the mechanical prototype of the Clock of the Long Now, an monument-scale timepiece intended to run for 10,000 years. He also served as a professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-founded Applied Invention.

Awards and honors

Hillis has received numerous accolades for his contributions to technology. He was awarded the inaugural Grace Murray Hopper Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in 1989. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Computer History Museum, which inducted him as a Fellow in 2013. In 2002, he shared the Dan David Prize for his work on the Connection Machine. He has also been honored with the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award and the Spirit of American Creativity Award.

Personal life

Hillis maintains a active intellectual life, engaging with long-term scientific and philanthropic projects through the Long Now Foundation. He is an accomplished author, having written books such as The Pattern on the Stone. His interests extend to biotechnology and archaeology, and he has collaborated on projects with institutions like the Smithsonian Institution. He resides in Los Angeles, continuing his work as an inventor and thinker focused on interdisciplinary challenges.

Category:American computer scientists Category:American inventors Category:MIT Media Lab people Category:1956 births Category:Living people