American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language

Ken Thompson

Kenneth Lane Thompson is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programming language, the direct predecessor to the C language, and was one of the creators and early developers of the Plan 9 operating system. Other notable contributions included his work on regular expressions and early computer text editors QED and ed, the definition of the UTF-8 encoding, and his work on computer chess that included the creation of endgame tablebases and the chess machine Belle.

Born

1943

February 4

Died

Living

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Ken, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1943 Born

Also on February 4

What else happened on this day, through history

211 Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrelling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace.
960 Zhao Kuangyin declares himself Emperor Taizu of Song, ending the Later Zhou and beginning the Song dynasty.
1169 A strong earthquake strikes the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
1454 Thirteen Years' War: The Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, sparking the Thirteen Years' War.

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The world in 1943

When Ken arrived

april 13 World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
april 13 The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.
april 16 Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.
april 18 World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on February 4

Birju Maharaj 1937–2022 Indian dancer, composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance (died 2022) Clint Black 1962– American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906–1945 German pastor and theologian (born 1906) Dru Drury 1725–1804 English entomologist and author (died 1804) Eddie Cochems 1877–1953 American football player and coach (born 1877) Eulalio Gutiérrez 1881– Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (died 1939) Gabrielle Anwar 1970– English-American actress George A. Romero 1940–2017 American director and producer (died 2017) Gotse Delchev 1872–1903 Bulgarian and Macedonian revolutionary activist (died 1903)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1943

Albano Carrisi 1943– Italian singer, actor, and winemaker Blythe Danner 1943– American actress Burt Rutan 1943– American engineer and pilot Davey Johnson 1943– American baseball player and manager (died 2025) Eddie Low 1943–2024 New Zealand country singer and musician (died 2024) Emerson Boozer 1943– American football player and sportscaster Florence Ballard 1943–1976 American singer (born 1943) Gamini Lokuge 1943– Sri Lankan politician (died 2025) Gary Wright 1943– American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (died 2023)

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Ken's birthday February 4 Ken's zodiac Aquarius When Ken arrived 1943