Adele Goldberg
Born 1945 · Age 80
American computer scientist; co-developer of Smalltalk-80; contributor to object-oriented programming, GUIs, and computing in education; longtime Xerox PARC researcher; entrepreneur and ACM president.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Cleveland, Ohio
Adele J. Goldberg born in Cleveland, Ohio (twin, third of three daughters).
Family relocated to Chicago, Illinois
Goldberg's family moved from Cleveland to Chicago where she spent the rest of her childhood.
Mathematics undergraduate at University of Michigan
Enrolled at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) to study mathematics.
Took semester off to travel Europe
Took time off from college to travel in Europe (part of her undergraduate experience).
Summer internship at IBM (Installation Center)
Worked as a clerk/trainee at IBM Installation Center; taught herself programming on unit-record machines and learned practical computing.
Completed B.S. in Mathematics
Graduated from University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.
Summer work at IBM San Francisco office
Worked a summer role in IBM's San Francisco Installation Center after graduation; exposure to different IBM cultures.
Master's degree, University of Chicago
Received an M.S. (master's) degree in Information Science from the University of Chicago.
Smalltalk-72 development (early Smalltalk)
Worked on early Smalltalk iterations (Smalltalk-72) which introduced low-level animations and music; early opportunity to 'teach' the model.
Visiting researcher at Stanford University
Served as visiting researcher at Stanford while completing her Ph.D. dissertation.
Ph.D. in Information Science (dissertation completed)
Earned Ph.D. from the University of Chicago; dissertation titled 'Computer-Assisted Instruction: The Application of Theorem-proving to Adaptive Response Analysis.'
Professor role in Rio de Janeiro (brief)
Briefly worked as a professor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil shortly after completing her Ph.D.
Joined Xerox PARC as research scientist
Began work at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as a research scientist (hired while pregnant).
Met John Shoch at ACM SIGCSE; learned about Dynabook idea
At ACM SIGCSE meeting discussed the Dynabook concept (computer for children's education) with Xerox employee John Shoch; later met Alan Kay and joined PARC.
Co-authored 'Personal Dynamic Media' (Computer journal)
With Alan Kay and the Learning Research Group published 'Personal Dynamic Media' (Computer, Mar 1977), outlining the Dynabook vision and predictions about notebook computers for personal media.
Became manager of System Concepts Laboratory at PARC
Appointed manager of PARC's System Concepts Laboratory (overseeing Smalltalk and related projects); led the group that developed Smalltalk-80.
Smalltalk demonstration shown to Steve Jobs (PARC -> Apple)
Steve Jobs and Apple engineers saw a demonstration of Smalltalk at PARC; Goldberg initially resisted demonstrating but was compelled by superiors.
BYTE magazine feature on Smalltalk
Goldberg helped write and edit a BYTE magazine feature (1981) to introduce and promote object-oriented programming via Smalltalk.
Published 'Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation' (Blue Book)
Co-authored (with David Robson) the influential 'Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation' (Addison-Wesley).
Published 'Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment' (Orange Book)
Authored 'Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment' (Addison-Wesley).
Elected President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Served as ACM President from 1984 to 1986 (previously served as National Secretary and Editor-in-Chief of ACM's Computing Surveys).
Completion of ACM presidency (term ended)
Finished two-year term as ACM President (1984–1986).
ACM Software Systems Award (with Kay & Ingalls)
Received the ACM Software Systems Award (1987) along with Alan Kay and Dan Ingalls for development of Smalltalk.
Co-founded ParcPlace Systems
Co-founded ParcPlace Systems, a spin-out from Xerox PARC to create development tools for Smalltalk-based applications; served as chairwoman and CEO.
PC Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award (date source conflict)
Reported in some sources as receiving PC Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award (sources conflict on 1990 vs 1996).
Elected ACM Fellow
Inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in recognition of her contributions.
ParcPlace merged with Digitalk (left company)
ParcPlace Systems merged with Digitalk in 1995; Goldberg served as chairwoman/CEO until the merger and left to establish a consultancy.
Established independent consultancy
After leaving ParcPlace, Goldberg set up a consultancy and worked on educational technology projects including online course delivery for math and science equity.
Co-founded Neometron, Inc.
Cofounded Neometron, Inc., an Internet support provider (1999).
Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Award (co-awarded)
Co-awarded the Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Award with Dan Ingalls (2002).
IEEE History Center oral history interview (recorded)
Oral history interview conducted by Janet Abbate for the IEEE History Center (3 July 2002) documenting Goldberg's life and work.
Spoke / Appeared at PyCon (photo shows participation)
Photographed at PyCon 2007 — involvement in community conference (speaking/participation in Python community events).
Inducted into WITI Hall of Fame
Admitted into Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame (2010).
Listed as team member of Bullitics
Associated with Bullitics (team/bio archived April 26, 2012); served in advisory/working capacity on educational/technology projects.
Honorary degree from University of Michigan
Awarded an honorary degree from the University of Michigan (date reported 2014).
Computer History Museum: archive/collection guide available
Computer History Museum houses a collection and Guide to the Adele Goldberg papers (collection publicly documented by CHM).
University of Chicago Alumni Professional Achievement Award
Received the University of Chicago Alumni Professional Achievement Award (2021).
Made Fellow of the Computer History Museum (with Dan Ingalls)
Named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum (2022) for work promoting and codeveloping Smalltalk and computing in education.
Computer History Museum collection recognition
CHM houses Goldberg's working documents, reports, publications and videotapes related to Smalltalk development (collection highlighted by CHM).
Profiled in 'Women Who Changed Tech' blog
Featured (March 23, 2023) in a blog series profiling women who changed technology and summarizing her contributions to GUIs and Smalltalk.
Legacy: Smalltalk principles influence modern languages and GUIs
Ongoing recognition of Smalltalk's influence on Java, Python, Objective-C, modern IDEs, MVC, JIT compilation and educational programming environments like Scratch.
Key Achievement Ages
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