View source for Biography:Charles P. Thacker

{{short description|American computer scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Charles P. Thacker
| image             = Chuckthacker (cropped).jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Thacker in 2008
| birth_name        = Charles Patrick Thacker
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1943|2|26|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = Pasadena, California, U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2017|6|12|1943|2|26}}
| death_place       = Palo Alto, California, U.S.
| field             = Computer Science
| workplaces        = [[Company:Xerox|Xerox]], [[Company:Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]], [[Organization:Microsoft Research|Microsoft Research]]
| alma_mater        = [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]] (B.S., 1967)
| doctoral_advisor  = 
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| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = Alto (computer)
| author_abbrev_bot = 
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| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| awards            = IEEE John von Neumann Medal <small>(2007)</small><br />Turing Award <small>(2009)</small> <br /> Computer History Museum Fellow <small>(2007)</small><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001165044/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/|url-status=dead|title=Charles (Chuck) Thacker 2007 Fellow|archive-date=1 October 2012|access-date=6 March 2022}}</ref> Eckert–Mauchly Award <small>(2017)</small> <ref>{{cite web|url=https://awards.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/press-releases/2017/june/eckert-mauchly-2017.pdf|title=ACM and IEEE Computer Society Honor the Late Charles P. Thacker with 2017 Eckert-Mauchly Award|website=Awards.acm.org|access-date=6 March 2022}}</ref>
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
| signature_alt     = 
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}}

'''Charles Patrick "Chuck" Thacker''' (February 26, 1943&nbsp;– June 12, 2017) was an American pioneer computer designer.<ref name="AT">{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/06/charles-thacker-key-designer-of-the-xerox-alto-dies-at-74/ |title=Xerox Alto designer, co-inventor of Ethernet, dies at 74 |date=13 June 2017 |website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> He designed the [[Engineering:Xerox Alto|Xerox Alto]], which is the first computer that used a [[Computer mouse|mouse]]-driven [[Graphical user interface|graphical user interface]] (GUI).

==Biography==
Thacker was born in Pasadena, California, on February 26, 1943.<ref name="chm"/> His father was Ralph Scott Thacker, born 1906, an electrical engineer ([[Organization:California Institute of Technology|Caltech]] class of 1928<ref>{{cite web|page=42 |url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/260/1/address.pdf |title=Address Unknown, ''The Institute has no record of the present addresses of these alumni. If you know the current address of any of these men, please contact the Alumni Office, Caltech.'' |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=2017-07-01}}</ref>) in the aeronautical industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/Aviation_Week_1939-07-01/Aviation_Week_1939-07-01_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Aviation Week 1939-07-01"|website=Archive.org |date=July 1939|access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/patents/US2247294 |title=Patent US2247294 – Radio directional control for aircraft – Google Patents|website=Google.com |access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/patents/US2264056 |title=Patent US2264056 – Blind landing system for aircraft – Google Patents|website=Google.com |access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/patents/US2305042 |title=Patent US2305042 – Impact welding – Google Patents|website=Google.com |access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.ms/patents/US2463826 |title=Patent US2463826 – Coupler and terminal block – Google Patents |website=Google.ms |access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref> His mother was the former (Mattie) Fern Cheek, born 1922 in Oklahoma, a cashier and secretary, who soon raised their two sons on her own.<ref>{{cite news|author=KATIE HAFNER|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/technology/charles-thacker-dead-personal-computing-pioneer.html |title=Charles P. Thacker Dies at 74; Helped Design Early Personal Computer|newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}|date=2017-06-14 |access-date=2017-06-28}}</ref>

He received his B.S. in [[Physics:Physics|physics]]<ref name="IEEE_JVN">{{Cite web|url=https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/recipients/current-recipients/|title=Current IEEE Corporate Award Recipients|website=Corporate-awards.ieee.org|access-date=6 March 2022}}</ref> from the [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]] in 1967. He then joined the university's "Project Genie" in 1968, which developed the pioneering [[Software:Berkeley Timesharing System|Berkeley Timesharing System]] on the [[Engineering:SDS 940|SDS 940]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Oral History of Charles (Chuck) Thacker |author= Interviewed by Al Kossow |date= August 29, 2007 |work= Reference no: X4148.2008 |publisher= Computer History Museum |url= http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Thacker_Charles/Thacker_Charles_1.oral_history.2007.1026581226.pdf |access-date= December 6, 2014 }}</ref> [[Biography:Butler Lampson|Butler Lampson]], Thacker, and others then left to form the Berkeley Computer Corporation, where Thacker designed the processor and memory system. While BCC was not commercially successful, this group became the core technologists in the Computer Systems Laboratory at [[Company:Xerox|Xerox]] Palo Alto Research Center ([[Company:PARC|PARC]]).<ref name="chm">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/
 |title       = Fellow Awards — Charles Thacker
 |year        = 2007
 |publisher   = Computer History Museum
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121001165044/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/
 |archive-date = 2012-10-01
}}</ref>

Thacker worked in the 1970s and 1980s at the PARC, where he served as project leader of the [[Engineering:Xerox Alto|Xerox Alto]] personal computer system,<ref name=altopc>{{Citation
 | title = Alto: a personal computer
 | url = http://research.microsoft.com/Lampson/25-Alto/25-AltoOCR.htm
 | year = 1982
 | journal = Computer Structures: Principles and Examples
 | pages = 549–572
 | last1 = Thacker	 | first1 =  C.P. 
 | access-date = 2010-09-02	}}</ref> was co-inventor of the [[Ethernet]] [[Engineering:Local area network|LAN]], and contributed to many other projects, including the first [[Engineering:Laser printing|laser printer]].

In 1983, Thacker was a founder of the [[Organization:DEC Systems Research Center|Systems Research Center]] (SRC) of [[Company:Digital Equipment Corporation|Digital Equipment Corporation]] (DEC), and in 1997, he joined [[Organization:Microsoft Research|Microsoft Research]] to help establish Microsoft Research Cambridge in Cambridge, {{wipe|England}}.

After returning to the United States, Thacker designed the [[Computer hardware|hardware]] for Microsoft's [[Engineering:Microsoft Tablet PC|Tablet PC]], based on his experience with the "interim [[Engineering:Dynabook|Dynabook]]" at PARC, and later the Lectrice, a pen-based hand-held computer at DEC SRC.

From 2006–2010 Thacker was a research contributor to the Berkeley Research Accelerator for Multiple Processors (RAMP) based upon the Berkeley Emulation Engine FPGA platform, which sought to explore new processor designs through massive emulation.  He advised and consulted on the follow-on BEE platforms, the BEE2 and BEE3, and in turn used the hardware for his own research explorations.  

Because the impetus for the [[Engineering:RISC-V|RISC-V]] development was the paucity of open-source processor designs for the RAMP project (both Asanovic and Patterson were PIs), it is fitting that Thacker played a role in this important future technology.

Thacker died of complications from [[Medicine:Esophageal cancer|esophageal cancer]] on June 12, 2017, in Palo Alto, California, aged 74.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/technology/charles-thacker-dead-personal-computing-pioneer.html|title=Charles P. Thacker Dies at 74; Helped Design Early Personal Computer|first=Katie|last=Hafner|date=14 June 2017|access-date=6 March 2022|website={{wipe|The New York Times}}}}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1994, he was inducted as a Fellow of the [[Organization:Association for Computing Machinery|Association for Computing Machinery]].<ref>{{cite web 
| url         = http://awards.acm.org/award_winners/thacker_1336106.cfm
| title       = Charles P Thacker ACM Awards 
| publisher   = ACM (the [[Organization:Association for Computing Machinery|Association for Computing Machinery]]) 
| access-date  = December 6, 2014
}}</ref>

In 1996, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus in Computer Science at U.C. Berkeley.<ref>{{cite web 
| url         = http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/alumni/distinguished.cs.shtml#outstanding 
| title       = Distinguished Alumni Awards in Computer Science 
| date = 22 April 2016 
| publisher   = UC Berkeley
}}</ref>

In 2004, he won the Charles Stark Draper Prize together with  [[Biography:Alan Kay|Alan C. Kay]], [[Biography:Butler Lampson|Butler W. Lampson]], and [[Biography:Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert W. Taylor]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url       = http://www.draperprize.org/2004.php
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091017013028/http://www.draperprize.org/2004.php
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-date = 2009-10-17
 |title     = The Draper Prize 2004 Winners
 |publisher = National Academy of Engineering
}}</ref>

In 2007, he won the IEEE John von Neumann Medal.<ref name="IEEE_JVN"/>

In 2007, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Computer History Museum for "leading development of the Xerox PARC Alto, and for innovations in networked personal computer systems and laser printing technologies."<ref>{{cite web |title= Charles (Chuck) Thacker — CHM Fellow Award Winner|url= http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/ |access-date= March 30, 2015 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150403185733/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Charles,Thacker/ |archive-date= April 3, 2015 }}</ref>

In 2010, he was named by the [[Organization:Association for Computing Machinery|Association for Computing Machinery]] as the recipient of the 2009 Turing Award<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2010/turing-award-09 
 |title=ACM Turing Award Goes to Creator of First Modern Personal Computer 
 |publisher=ACM (the [[Organization:Association for Computing Machinery|Association for Computing Machinery]]) 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311223801/http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2010/turing-award-09
 |archive-date=March 11, 2010
 |access-date=March 9, 2010 
 |url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Don|date=March 9, 2010|title=Computing Prize Winner Did Not Rest On His Laurels|publisher=The Wall Street Journal ("BLOGS")|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/03/09/computing-prize-winner-did-not-rest-on-his-laurels/|url-status=dead|access-date=March 10, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313063210/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/03/09/computing-prize-winner-did-not-rest-on-his-laurels/|archive-date=March 13, 2010|quote=“This guy is a real genius,” says [[Biography:Alan Kay|Alan Kay]], a researcher who worked with Thacker at [[Company:PARC|PARC]] and a fellow Turing Award winner. “We don’t like to sling that word around in our field, but he is one. He is magic.”}}
</ref> in recognition of his pioneering design and realization of the [[Engineering:Xerox Alto|Alto]], the first modern personal computer, and in addition for his contributions to the [[Ethernet]] and the [[Engineering:Tablet computer|tablet computer]].

Thacker received an honorary doctorate from the {{wipe|Switzerland}} Federal Institute of Technology<ref name="IEEE_JVN"/> and was a [[Social:Fellow#Industry and corporate|Technical Fellow]] at Microsoft.<ref name="IEEE_JVN"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* "{{Cite journal | last1 = Hoffmann | first1 = L. | title = Q&A: From Single Core to Multicore, Leah Hoffmann interviews Charles P. Thacker| doi = 10.1145/1785414.1785444 | journal = Communications of the ACM | volume = 53 | issue = 7 | page = 112 | year = 2010 | s2cid = 208938429 }}

== External links ==
* [http://www.microsoft.com/about/technicalrecognition/Chuck-Thacker.aspx Thacker biography], [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
* [http://www.budiu.info/blog/thacker.html An interview with Chuck Thacker]
* [http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/vonneumann_recipients.html#sect8 IEEE John von Neumann Medal Recipients]
* [http://news.microsoft.com/2010/03/09/chuck-thacker-attains-computings-peak/ Chuck Thacker Attains Computing’s Peak]
* [https://archive.today/20121210220508/http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/archive/2010/03/25/legendary-pioneer-chuck-thacker-recent-turing-award-recipient-250k-prize-considered-nobel-prize-of-computing-from-microsoft-research-shares-his-iconic-legacy-current-and-future-innovative-research.aspx Podcast interview with Chuck Thacker upon receipt of Turing Award by ], Stephen Ibaraki

{{Turing award}}

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[[Category:Computer designers]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Charles P. Thacker}}