Monday, June 28, 2004
np: beastie boys - to the 5 boroughs
so this gentleman passed away a few days ago, but i haven't been keeping up with the blog of death the way i often try to do.
Working at IBM Corp. in the late 1950s, Robert W. "Bob" Bemer helped develop the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), which translates computer binary code into a language consisting of readable numbers and letters...
Bemer also coined the term "COBOL," developed the technology behind the Escape (ESC) key, which rests in the top left corner of most computer keyboards, and created the coding concept behind hyperlinks. In 1971, he was the first computer scientist to warn the government about the impending Y2K phenomenon.
ASCII, COBOL, the escape key and hyperlinks? the man was an unstoppable genius in my book. we wouldn't be here without him.
