The form was colloquially known as the "I Am Great" report. brucee
On 14 October 2011 09:57, Thomas <twe...@verizon.net> wrote: > I remember his giving a talk about 5 years ago at the time of his > > retirement from Bell Labs. He was delighted that he was now a > > contract employee and no longer had to fill out a > > certain form annually and answer a question something like: > > "What have you done for Bell Labs this year?" > > Free at last. > > -Tom West > > > On Oct 13, 2011, at 5:19 PM, Nick LaForge wrote: > >>> It is so sad that the people most responsible for the key software >>> technologies are almost unheard of by the general public, and most >>> credit seems to be given to people that jump on the bandwagon much >>> later.. >> >>> If there was a Nobel prize for software, dmr would have been one of >>> the top on my list. >> >> The public's traditional fascination with physics makes an interesting >> comparison, considering the relative obscurity computer science >> enjoys. >> >> Physics' gifts include nuclear fission, medical imaging, aerospace, >> semiconducting... the list is enumerable. Yet the greatest celebrity >> among physicists undoubtedly is Albert Einstein, who's contributions >> are most significant theoretically (aerospace aside). So it seems >> fitting that a similarly theoretical and precise discipline like >> computer science should enjoy comparable status (in opposition to the >> actual situation where Gates and Jobs get the glory). Ironically, the >> real reason for mathematics omission by Nobel likely was that Alfred >> Nobel thought it TOO theoretical a discipline (see >> http://mathforum.org/social/articles/ross.html). Regardless, it took >> people like dmr (and Turing, Church, Shannon, Neumann, Dijkstra, >> Backus, Forsythe, Floyd, Hoare, Knuth, ...) to map abstract >> mathematical science onto workable machines. >> >> Maybe such a collaborative science doesn't permit hero worship? Dmr's >> own publicly visible accomplishments alone make him worthy of it, yet >> his humility was so apparent ("I'm not a person who particularly had >> heros when growing up"). Perhaps his behind-the-scenes impact among >> his colleagues at Bell Labs eclipse even what everyone else can see. >> >> But it's still sad that among those acquainted with Einstein and his >> contributions, less than 1% seem to even know who Turing was. >> >> Nick >> > > > -- Don't meddle in the mouth -- MVS (0416935147, +1-513-3BRUCEE)
