Write a short paper about an influential person in the history of computer science or information technology
For this assignment you will write a short (700+ word) paper about an influential person in the
history of computer science or information technology. You may choose a person from the list
below, or if there is someone not on the list that you would like to write about, contact your
professor for approval. Note that if you choose a person not on the list, that person should
generally have have done significant work to the computer science/information technology
before 1975. In other words, people such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and so
forth will not be approved. However, there may be some names on the list that have influenced
the field more recently.
Your paper will be graded according to the associated rubric posted on Blackboard. Use that
rubric to ensure that you have met all the requirements of the paper. In general, your paper will
be approximately four paragraphs and should include:
● A paragraph giving biographical information about the person you choose. This will include:
○ Dates of birth and death (if known. If not known, why not?)
○ Location(s) where person grew up and/or lived
○ Influences on childhood/early adulthood
○ Any interesting aspects about the person not necessarily related to computer science or his/her influence on the field (such as fighting in the French Revolution or beekeeping or writing romance novels, etc.)
● A paragraph describing the contribution that your person made to the field of computer
science
○ Was it a mechanical machine? A mathematical formula? An electronic device? An idea that drove society to use a computing device?
○ How did the person come up with the idea?
○ Did the person know that their idea would be used in the way that made it influential to computer science?
● A paragraph describing how the contribution affected or influenced the progress of computer science
○ Or, if it was a dead-end device or idea, what about it made it so, yet still have an influence?
● A concluding paragraph summarizing the person and idea which will include:
○ Your thoughts about why the person, and his/her idea or device was influential
○ Your thoughts about how the world of computer science or information technology would be different if not for your person. For this assignment you will write a short (700+ word) paper about an influential person in the history of computer science or information technology. You may choose a person from the list below, or if there is someone not on the list that you would like to write about, contact your professor for approval. Note that if you choose a person not on the list, that person should generally have have done significant work to the computer science/information technology before 1975. In other words, people such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and so forth will not be approved. However, there may be some names on the list that have influenced the field more recently.
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