Thomas Eugene Kurtz (born February 22, 1928) is an American computer scientist who co-developed the BASIC programming language during 1963 to 1964, together with John G. Kemeny.[1]
In 1951, Dr. Kurtz’s first experience with computing came at the Summer Session of the Institute for Numerical Analysis at University of California, Los Angeles. His interests have included numerical analysis, statistics, and computer science ever since.
Dr. Kurtz graduated from Knox College in 1950, and was awarded a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University in 1956, where his advisor was John Tukey, and joined the Mathematics Department of Dartmouth College that same year. In 1963 to 1964, Dr. Kurtz and Kemeny developed the first version of the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System, a time-sharing system for university use, and the BASIC language.
From 1966 to 1975, Dr. Kurtz served as Director of the Kiewit Computation Center at Dartmouth,[2] and from 1975 to 1978, Director of the Office of Academic Computing. From 1980 to 1988 Dr. Kurtz was Director of the Computer and Information Systems program at Dartmouth, a ground-breaking multidisciplinary graduate program to develop IS leaders for industry. Subsequently, Dr. Kurtz returned to teaching full-time as a Professor of Mathematics, with an emphasis on statistics and computer science.
In 1983, Kurtz and Kemeny co-founded a company called True BASIC, Inc. to market True BASIC, an updated version of the language.
Dr. Kurtz has also served as Council Chairman and Trustee of EDUCOM, as well as Trustee and Chairman of NERComP, and on the Pierce Panel of the President's Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Kurtz also served on the steering committees for the CONDUIT project and the CCUC conferences on instructional computing. In 1991, the Computer Society honored Dr. Kurtz with the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award[3] and in 1994 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.[4]