Peter Naur
Naur's work helped make programming-language specifications legible and reproducible. The notation associated with Backus and Naur became a durable tool for describing syntax, a prerequisite for reliable implementations and later language-security work.
Peter Naur was a Danish computer-science pioneer, initially trained in astronomy, who became a central contributor to programming-language design. He worked on the ALGOL 60 report and its influential syntactic notation.
Language description and theory
The ACM recognized Naur with the 2005 A.M. Turing Award for his role in defining ALGOL 60, including the pioneering use of a formal notation commonly called Backus-Naur form. He also wrote influential work on programming as theory building.
In memoriam
Naur died in 2016. His publications and bibliographic archive preserve a record of a career that joined programming-language practice with wider questions about human understanding of programs.
Timeline
- 1957Completes doctoral work in astronomy at the University of Copenhagen.
- 1960Helps edit the Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60.
- 1969Becomes professor of computer science at the University of Copenhagen.
- 2005Receives the ACM A.M. Turing Award.
- 2016-01-03Dies in Herlev, Denmark.
Peter Naur
- Type
- Person
- Era
- 1950s-2016
- Born
- 1928-10-25
- Died
- 2016-01-03
- Known for
- ALGOL 60 report; Backus-Naur form; Programming as Theory Building; ACM A.M. Turing Award
- Tags
- programming-languages, algol, bnf, computer-science, academic-research, turing-award
Created by Joas A Santos · Something wrong or want it removed? Open an issue.