John L. Hennessy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John L. Hennessy
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Hennessy in 2024
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| 10th President of Stanford University | |
| In office September 1, 2000 – August 31, 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Gerhard Casper |
| Succeeded by | Marc Tessier-Lavigne |
| 11th Provost of Stanford University | |
| In office July 1999 – September 2000 |
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| Preceded by | Condoleezza Rice |
| Succeeded by | John Etchemendy |
| Personal details | |
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John Leroy Hennessy
September 22, 1952 Huntington, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Villanova University (BS) Stony Brook University (MS, PhD) |
| Known for | Reduced instruction set computer MIPS Technologies Atheros |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer architecture |
| Thesis | A real-time language for small processors: design, definition and implementation (1977) |
| Doctoral advisor | Richard Kieburtz |
| Doctoral students |
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John Leroy Hennessy (born September 22, 1952) is an American computer scientist. He is currently the chairman of Alphabet Inc., which is the parent company of Google. Hennessy also helped start two important technology companies: MIPS Technologies and Atheros.
He was the tenth President of Stanford University, a very famous school. He served in this role from 2000 to 2016. Many people in the tech world, like Marc Andreessen, call him "the godfather of Silicon Valley."
In 2017, John Hennessy and David Patterson won the Turing Award. This award is like the Nobel Prize for computing. They won it for creating the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture. This design is now used in almost all new computer chips.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Hennessy grew up in Huntington, New York. He was one of six children in his family. His father worked as an aerospace engineer. His mother was a teacher before she raised her children. His family has Irish-Catholic roots. Some of his ancestors came to America during the potato famine in the 1800s.
He studied electrical engineering at Villanova University, earning his bachelor's degree. Later, he earned his master's degree and a PhD in computer science from Stony Brook University.
Career and Contributions
Hennessy joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1977. In 1981, he started the MIPS project. This project looked into how to make RISC processors better. In 1984, he took a break from teaching to start MIPS Computer Systems Inc.. This company helped bring the technology from his research to the public.
He held several important leadership roles at Stanford. He directed the Computer System Laboratory from 1989 to 1993. He also chaired the Department of Computer Science from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Dean of the School of Engineering.
In 1999, he became the Provost of Stanford University. This is a high-level academic leadership position. The next year, in 2000, he became the President of Stanford University. He led the university for 16 years. In 2015, he announced he would step down in 2016.
Hennessy has also served on the boards of major companies. These include Google (now Alphabet Inc.), Cisco Systems, and Atheros Communications. He was also on the board of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. In 2008, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society.
In 2010, he met the 14th Dalai Lama at Stanford. They exchanged traditional greetings before the Dalai Lama gave a speech. In 2010, Hennessy also wrote an article with Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust. They encouraged the passage of the DREAM Act, which aimed to help young immigrants.
Since 2013, Hennessy has been a judge for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. This award celebrates engineering innovations that benefit humanity.
In 2016, Hennessy helped create the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. He is the first director of this program. It provides full funding for graduate students at Stanford for up to three years. The first group of 51 scholars started in 2018. They came from 21 different countries.
In February 2018, John Hennessy became the new Chairman of Alphabet Inc.. This means he leads the board of directors for Google's parent company.
Hennessy has a strong interest in computer education. He co-wrote two well-known books with David Patterson. These books, Computer Organization and Design and Computer Architecture, are used as textbooks in many university courses. They teach about how computers are built and how they work.
He also helped update Donald Knuth's MIX processor to the MMIX. These are model computers used in Knuth's famous book series, The Art of Computer Programming.
Awards and Recognitions
John Hennessy has received many awards for his work:
- In 1992, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. This was for his work on computer architecture and RISC computers.
- He received the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award in 1994.
- In 1997, he became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
- He received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 2001.
- In 2007, he became a Fellow of the Computer History Museum.
- He was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 2012. This was for his pioneering work on the RISC processor.
- The University of Waterloo gave him an Honorary Degree in Mathematics in 2012.
- In 2017, he became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.
- He won the Turing Award in 2017 with David Patterson.
- He received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in 2020.
- In 2020, he received the Clark Kerr Award for leadership in higher education.
- In 2022, he was awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize. This was for his contributions to RISC chips.
Selected Publications
- Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
Personal Life
John Hennessy is married to Andrea Berti. They met when they were in high school.
See also
In Spanish: John L. Hennessy para niños
