Tony Hoare
Born 1934 · Age 91
British computer scientist known for Quicksort, Hoare logic, CSP, contributions to programming languages, algorithms, formal verification and concurrency. Turing Award winner (1980); long academic career at Queen's University Belfast and University of Oxford; senior/principal researcher at Microsoft Research, Cambridge.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Colombo, British Ceylon
Born Charles Antony Richard Hoare to British parents in Colombo (now Sri Lanka).
Educated at the Dragon School (Oxford)
Attended the Dragon School in Oxford (primary education). Exact years not stated; mid-1940s attendance inferred from typical ages.
Educated at The King's School, Canterbury
Attended The King's School, Canterbury for secondary education (years not explicitly dated in source).
Graduated BA (Classics & Philosophy) from Merton College, Oxford
Completed undergraduate studies ('Greats' - Classics and Philosophy) at Merton College, University of Oxford; graduation year given as 1956.
Began National Service in the Royal Navy
Performed 18 months National Service (1956–1958) in the Royal Navy; learned Russian during service.
Postgraduate certificate in statistics at Oxford
Returned to Oxford in 1958 for a postgraduate certificate in statistics; also learnt programming (Autocode on the Ferranti Mercury) under Leslie Fox.
Learned Autocode on Ferranti Mercury
Was taught Autocode (on the Ferranti Mercury) by Leslie Fox; this was Hoare's introduction to computer programming.
Graduate exchange to Moscow State University
Studied at Moscow State University as a British Council exchange student under Andrey Kolmogorov, focusing on machine translation and probability theory.
Developed Quicksort (1959–1960)
Devised the Quicksort sorting algorithm while studying at Moscow State University (usually dated to 1959–1960).
Devised Quickselect (selection algorithm) (circa)
Work on selection algorithms (Quickselect) is attributed to around the same period as Quicksort (late 1950s/early 1960s). Exact year not explicitly given in source.
Worked on hardware/software architecture and later research roles at Elliott
After initial compiler work he moved to roles including recovering a failed OS project and working as Chief Scientist on future machine architectures; precise dates span the 1960s.
Returned to England and joined Elliott Brothers Ltd.
Left the Soviet Union in 1960 and began work at Elliott Brothers, a small computer manufacturer in London.
Implemented ALGOL 60 compiler at Elliott Brothers
Led/implemented a compiler for a version of ALGOL 60 while at Elliott Brothers; credited with the first commercial ALGOL compiler work at the firm.
Led team that delivered an early commercial ALGOL compiler (Elliott)
Led a team (including Jill Pym) in the design and delivery of a successful early commercial ALGOL 60 compiler; credited for using Algol itself to design the compiler.
Married Jill Pym
Married Jill Pym, who was a member of his research team at Elliott Brothers.
Promoted to Chief Engineer (Elliott) – approximate
At Elliott Brothers he was promoted (source describes promotion to Chief Engineer and later Chief Scientist). Exact year not stated; mid-1960s is inferred.
Introduced the null reference (ALGOL W design)
While designing a type system for references in an object-oriented language (ALGOL W), Hoare introduced the null reference (later described by him as his 'billion-dollar mistake').
Associated with the Dining Philosophers problem (concurrency)
Along with Edsger Dijkstra, Hoare is associated with the dining philosophers problem used to illustrate synchronization issues in concurrent computing. The sources mention the association but give no specific date.
Appointed Professor of Computing Science, Queen's University Belfast
Became Professor of Computing Science at Queen's University Belfast; built a strong teaching and research department despite civil disturbances.
Published 'An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming' (Hoare logic)
Published the influential paper establishing Hoare logic (axiomatic basis for program correctness) in Communications of the ACM, October 1969.
Published 'Proof of correctness of data representations'
Published a paper (1972) on correctness proofs for data representations; later won an ACM award for this work.
Co-authored 'Structured Programming' (book)
Co-authored the book 'Structured Programming' (Dahl, Dijkstra, Hoare), Academic Press, 1972.
Member, IFIP Working Group 2.1 (ALGOL standards work)
Involved in international standards in programming as a member of IFIP WG 2.1 which specified and maintained ALGOL 60 and 68 (membership described but exact start year not specified).
ACM Programming Systems and Languages Paper Award
Received the ACM Programming Systems and Languages Paper Award (1973) for the paper 'Proof of correctness of data representations'.
Published 'Monitors: An operating system structuring concept'
Introduced the monitor concept for structuring operating systems in Communications of the ACM (October 1974), influential in concurrency control.
Built and led the Oxford Programming Research Group (PRG)
At Oxford he re-built and led the Programming Research Group (PRG), which produced work on CSP, Z, and other formal methods under his leadership.
Returned to University of Oxford as Professor of Computing
Returned to Oxford to lead the Programming Research Group in the Oxford University Computing Laboratory, succeeding Christopher Strachey.
Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society
Awarded Distinguished Fellowship by the British Computer Society.
Introduced/Worked on Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) (circa late 1970s)
Developed the formal language CSP for specifying interactions of concurrent processes; work matured during the late 1970s and early 1980s (precise early-paper dates vary).
Turing Award lecture published ('The Emperor's Old Clothes')
Transcript of his Turing Award lecture was published in Communications of the ACM (lecture paper widely cited).
Awarded the ACM Turing Award (presented in Nashville)
Received the 1980 ACM Turing Award for fundamental contributions to the definition and design of programming languages; lecture 'The Emperor's Old Clothes' presented on 27 Oct 1980.
Harry H. Goode Memorial Award
Received the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award in 1981.
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
Elected FRS in recognition of his contributions to computer science.
Published 'Communicating Sequential Processes' (book)
Published the book 'Communicating Sequential Processes' (Prentice Hall, 1985), formalizing the CSP model.
Faraday Medal
Awarded the Faraday Medal (1985) for notable contributions to engineering and technology.
Honorary Doctorate of Science, Queen's University Belfast
Awarded an honorary D.Sc. by Queen's University Belfast in recognition of his contributions.
First Christopher Strachey Professor of Computing established
On establishment of the Christopher Strachey Professorship of Computing in 1988, Hoare became the first holder, continuing to lead Oxford's Programming Research Group.
Published 'Essays in Computing Science'
Edited/author contribution to the volume 'Essays in Computing Science' (Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science, 1989).
Computer Pioneer Award
Received the Computer Pioneer Award in recognition of early significant contributions to computing.
Published 'Mechanised Reasoning and Hardware Design'
Co-authored 'Mechanised Reasoning and Hardware Design' (Prentice Hall, 1992).
Continued influence: students and doctoral supervision
Supervised doctoral students who became notable researchers (Cliff Jones, Bill Roscoe, Augusto Sampaio among others); many student theses and alumni dates span 1970s–1990s (exact PhD years not specified in source).
Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Bath
Awarded an honorary D.Sc. by the University of Bath.
Public reflection on limitations of formal methods
Published reflections (circa 1995) noting that formal methods had not been adopted by industry to the extent predicted and identifying management/requirements as major causes of failures.
Honorary Fellow, Kellogg College, Oxford
Named an Honorary Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford.
Published 'Unifying Theories of Programming'
Co-authored 'Unifying Theories of Programming' with Jifeng He (Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science, 1998).
Awarded Kyoto Prize in Information Science
Received the Kyoto Prize (Information Science) in 2000 recognising lifetime contributions to computing.
Joined Microsoft Research (Cambridge) as senior/principal researcher
After retirement from Oxford he joined Microsoft Research in Cambridge as a senior/principal researcher to pursue industrially relevant research.
Knighted for services to education and computer science
Received a knighthood (Knights Bachelor) in 2000 for services to education and computer science.
Retired from Oxford and became Emeritus Professor
Retired from his Oxford chair in 2000 and assumed Emeritus Professor status.
Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of contributions to computing and engineering.
Member, US National Academy of Engineering
Elected a member (foreign associate) of the US National Academy of Engineering for fundamental contributions to computer science.
Fellow of the Computer History Museum
Named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum (Mountain View) for developing Quicksort and contributions to programming language theory.
Honorary Doctorate, Heriot-Watt University
Received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University.
Honorary Doctorate of Science, Athens University of Economics and Business
Awarded an honorary D.Sc. by the Department of Informatics, AUEB.
Friedrich L. Bauer-Prize (Technical University of Munich)
Received the Friedrich L. Bauer Prize from the Technical University of Munich (ceremony dated 26 October 2007).
QCon presentation: 'Null References: The Billion-Dollar Mistake'
Spoke at QCon London (presentation dated 25 August 2009) apologising for inventing the null reference and describing its wide-ranging costs.
IEEE John von Neumann Medal
Awarded the IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2011) for contributions to algorithms, operating systems, and programming languages.
SIGPLAN Programming Languages Achievement Award
Received the SIGPLAN Programming Languages Achievement Award in 2011.
Honorary Doctorate, University of Warsaw
Received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warsaw.
Honorary Doctorate, Complutense University of Madrid
Invested as Doctor honoris causa by Complutense University of Madrid on 10 May 2013.
Invited talk: 'Laws of programming with concurrency' (ICCSW)
Gave an invited talk at the Imperial College Computing Student Workshop (ICCSW) on 26 September 2013 on laws of programming with concurrency.
Continued active research and public speaking
Maintained research activity at Microsoft Research (Cambridge) and public speaking into his 80s; continued to mentor and publish.
Royal Medal of the Royal Society
Awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society in 2023.
Commemorative article for 90th birthday
A commemorative article/tribute was written in honour of Tony Hoare's 90th birthday (article dated 2024).
Maintained Emeritus and Microsoft affiliations
Continued as Emeritus Professor at Oxford and principal researcher at Microsoft Research, Cambridge into his 90th year.
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