Adriaan van Wijngaarden (2 November 1916 - 7 February 1987) was an outstanding computer scientist who is considered by many to have been the founding father of informatica (computer science) in the Netherlands. Even though he was trained as an engineer, van Wijngaarden would emphasize and promote the mathematical aspects of computing, first in numerical analysis, then in programming languages and finally in design principles of programming languages. November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Computer science (informally: CS or compsci) is, in its most general sense, the study of computation and information processing, both in hardware and in software. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Computer Science Open Directory Project: Computer Science Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies Belief that title science in computer science is inappropriate Categories: Computer science ... Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms for the problems of continuous mathematics (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). ... A programming language or computer language is a standardized communication technique for expressing instructions to a computer. ...

His education was in mechanical engineering, for which he received a degree from Delft University of Technology in 1939. He then studied for a doctorate in hydrodynamics, but then abandoned the area. He joined the Nationaal Luchtvaart Laboratorium in 1945 and went with a group to England the following year to learn about new technologies that had been developed there during World War II. The Ford Essex V6 engine Mechanical engineering is the application of physical principles to the creation of useful devices, objects and machines. ... Founded in 1842, the Delft University of Technology, in Delft, the Netherlands, is one of the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive technical universities in the Netherlands, with over 13,000 students and 2,100 scientists (including 200 professors). ... Hydrodynamics is fluid dynamics applied to liquids, such as water, alcohol, oil, and blood. ...

Van Wijngaarden was intrigued by the new idea of automatic computing, and on 1 January 1947 he became the head of the Computing Department of the brand-new Mathematisch Centrum (MC) in Amsterdam. He then made further visits to England and the United States, gathering ideas for the construction of the first Dutch computer, the ARRA, an electromechanical construction first demonstrated in 1952. In that same year, van Wijngaarden hired Edsger Dijkstra, and they worked on software for the ARRA. Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical calculations. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI — Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica) is in the Netherlands and was founded in 1946. ... Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,295 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 4°89E - 52°37N Website www. ... Portrait of Edsger Dijkstra (courtesy Brian Randell) Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (Rotterdam, May 11, 1930 – Nuenen, August 6, 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist. ...

While visiting Edinburgh in 1958, van Wijngaarden was seriously injured in an automobile accident in which his wife was killed. After he recovered, he focussed more on programming language research, and was one of the designers of the original ALGOL, and later ALGOL 68, for which he developed a two-level type of grammar that came be known as van Wijngaarden grammars. He became the director of the MC in 1961, and remained in that post for the next twenty years. Edinburghs location in Scotland Edinburgh viewed from Arthurs Seat. ... The position of Algol Algol (β Per / Beta Persei) is a bright star in the constellation Perseus. ... ALGOL 68 (short for ALGOrithmic Language 1968) is an imperative computer programming language that was conceived as a successor to the ALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a much wider scope of application and a more rigorously defined syntax and semantics. ... Van Wijngaarden grammar is a 2-level formal grammar, also W-grammar or vW-grammar, is a technique to define potentially infinite grammars in a finite number of rules. ...

"Aad" was in many ways an original human being: he was known for having dropped a plausible dissertation in 1945 simply because "it lacked beauty." He used a small "at" (@) sign as his personal mark. Through his work as leader of the ALGOL 68 committee, he made a deep (though belatedly recognised) contribution to the field of programming language design, definition and description.

External link

• Digidome bio of van Wijngaarden