# People

* [**Alan Turing**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing) - developed [theoretical computer science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoretical_computer_science), providing a formalisation of the concepts of [algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm) and [computation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computation) with the [Turing machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine), which can be considered a model of a [general-purpose computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General-purpose_computer). Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and [artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence).
  * In 2013,[ I wrote a Malayalam article](https://thottingal.in/documents/turing/) about him and his contributions
* [**Fabrice Bellard**](https://bellard.org): known for creating [FFmpeg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFmpeg), [QEMU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QEMU), and [Tiny C Compiler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_C_Compiler) software projects. He developed [Bellard's formula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellard's_formula) for calculating single digits of [pi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi).
  * [Fabrice Bellard: Portrait of a Super-Productive Programmer](https://smartbear.com/blog/test-and-monitor/fabrice-bellard-portrait-of-a-super-productive-pro/)(2011)
  * [English wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrice_Bellard)
  * [A small C program to print the biggest prime number](https://bellard.org/mersenne.html)
  * [ACM Journal Article](https://web.archive.org/web/20110726063943/http://www.freearchive.org/o/55dfc9935a719fc36ab1d16567972732c2db1fd7d7e3826fd73ee07e4c3c7d0b)
* [**Kurt Gödel**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del) **-** Theoretical foundations on computability. Gödel published his two [incompleteness theorems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems) in 1931 when he was 25 years old, one year after finishing his doctorate at the [University of Vienna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Vienna). The first incompleteness theorem states that for any self-consistent [recursive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_set) [axiomatic system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiomatic_system) powerful enough to describe the arithmetic of the [natural numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number) (for example [Peano arithmetic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peano_arithmetic)), there are true propositions about the natural numbers that cannot be proved from the [axioms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axioms). To prove this theorem, Gödel developed a technique now known as [Gödel numbering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del_numbering), which codes formal expressions as natural numbers.
  * What Gödel Discovered: <https://stopa.io/post/269>
  * [Kurt Gödel’s Brilliant Madness](https://www.cantorsparadise.com/kurt-g%C3%B6dels-brilliant-madness-84288dd96eda)
* [**John von Neumann**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann) **-** Von Neumann made major contributions to many fields, including [mathematics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics) ([foundations of mathematics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_mathematics), [functional analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_analysis), [ergodic theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergodic_theory), [representation theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_theory), [operator algebras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_algebras), [geometry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry), [topology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology), and [numerical analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_analysis)), [physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics) ([quantum mechanics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics), [hydrodynamics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_dynamics), and [quantum statistical mechanics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_statistical_mechanics)), [economics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics) ([game theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory)), [computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing) ([Von Neumann architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture), [linear programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_programming), [self-replicating machines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_universal_constructor), [stochastic computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_computing)), and [statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics).
  * He was a pioneer of the application of [operator theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_theory) to quantum mechanics in the development of functional analysis, and a key figure in the development of [game theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory) and the concepts of [cellular automata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton), the [universal constructor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_universal_constructor) and the [digital computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer).
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture>
  * <https://www.cantorsparadise.com/the-unparalleled-genius-of-john-von-neumann-791bb9f42a2d>
* [**Edsger W. Dijkstra**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra): [Edsger Dijkstra- The Man Who Carried Computer Science on His Shoulders](https://inference-review.com/article/the-man-who-carried-computer-science-on-his-shoulders)

  [Krzysztof Apt](https://inference-review.com/article/the-man-who-carried-computer-science-on-his-shoulders)
* **Claude Shannon**: [How Claude Shannon Invented the Future](https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/)

## Links

* Github's [Readme](https://github.com/readme) project is profiling famous or influential opensource contributors