Donald Ervin Knuth Knuth, Donald Ervin (nōth, kənōthˈ) [key],
1938–, American mathematician and computer scientist, b.
Milwaukee, Wis., grad. Case Institute of Technology (B.S. and
M.S., 1960) and California Institute of Technology (Ph.D.,
1963). While still a graduate student, Knuth was contracted to
write a book about the construction of computer compilers (see
programming language). What he wrote instead turned into his
monumental series The Art of Computer Programming (3 vol.,
1968–), an overview of programming algorithms, each described
with mathematical rigor, that has been translated into six
languages. Disappointed with the state of computer typesetting,
Knuth developed a typesetting program that has become the
standard for mathematics and physics. He taught at the
California Institute of Technology from 1962 until 1968, when he
joined the faculty at Stanford Univ., becoming professor
emeritus in 1993. His writings include Surreal Numbers (1974),
Literate Programming (1992), and Digital Typography (19