Klaus Samelson

Klaus Samelson ( born December 21, 1918 in Strasbourg in Alsace, † 25 May 1980, Munich) was a German mathematician, physicist and computer science pioneer. He worked mainly with program-controlled in the development of electronic data processors and is known for his contributions to compilers and algorithms for automatic translation of mathematical formulas that are based on the use of a stack memory, the principle of which he invented together with Friedrich L. Bauer.

Life and work

Klaus Samelson spent his childhood in Wroclaw. His father was Professor of Pediatrics. His older brother was Hans Samelson, the younger brother's name was French, the Nazis prevented Klaus Samelson them to enroll at a university. So he had to wait until 1946 before he was able to pursue studies in mathematics, physics and astronomy at the Ludwig- Maximilians- University in Munich.

After graduating in 1950 he worked for a time as a school teacher before he returned to the University. He received his doctorate in physics at Fritz Bopp with a dissertation on a quantum-mechanical problem of unipolar induction, which was provided by Arnold Sommerfeld.

Samelson began to care for Numerical Mathematics, and as an electrical engineer Hans Piloty and mathematics Professor Robert Sauer began to develop computer, he took with them to a position at the Mathematical Institute of the Technical University of Munich.

Here, changed his scientific orientation. His first publications were based on Sauer's interests to ultrasonic problems and the accuracy of numerical calculations of eigenvalues ​​with digital computers. Piloty, Friedrich L. Bauer and Samelson also worked on the design of the PERM, a computer, which was based partly on the concept of the Whirlwind. The PERM was completed in 1955 and the team continued the research on " automatic programming " continued the farmer had started in 1951.

Soon after, Samelson exerted a strong influence on the development of computer science as a new academic discipline. Together with Friedrich L. Bauer, who also had Fritz Bopp 's supervision, he studied the structure of programming languages ​​with the intention to find efficient algorithms for their translation into machine language. They discovered the principle of the stack and were convinced that this principle should be the basis for the translation of programming languages ​​and runtime systems block- structured programming languages. This was a breakthrough in modeling and design of computer systems. In 1957 he presented together with Friedrich L. Bauer, a patent on the principle of the stack memory (Keller principle).

Samelson played a key role in the design of ALGOL 58 and ALGOL 60 After him the Samelson principle is named, a formulated by him design recommendation.

From 1958 to 1963 he was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Mainz. He then became professor of mathematics at the Technical University in Munich and began with Friedrich L. Bauer to develop computer science curricula for the then emerging field of study. Samelson was a member of the International Federation for Information Processing and editor of the scientific journal Acta Informatica, as she launched in 1971.

Klaus Samelson was married to his long-time collaborator Ursula Hill - Samelson, who had co-developed an ALGOL -60 compiler in Mainz. In May 1980, he died at the age of 61 of cancer. Its scientific estate was purchased from the German Museum.

Honors

Publications (selection)

  • Alan J. Perlis with: Preliminary Report: International Algebraic Language. In: Communications of the ACM. 1 (12 ), 1958, pp. 8-22
  • Factorization of polynomials by functional iteration. Publisher of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1959
  • Friedrich L. Bauer: Sequential formula translation (Sequential Formula Translation). In: Electronic computing equipment. 1 (4 ), 1959, pp. 176-182
  • Edsger W. Dijkstra with Willy Heise & Alan J. Perlis ALGOL Sub - Committee Report - Extensions. In: Communications of the ACM. 2 (9 ), 1959, p 24
  • Friedrich L. Bauer: The problem of a common language, Especially for scientific numeral work. In: Information Processing. . Proceedings of the International conference on information processing, UNESCO, Paris, 15-20 June 1959, UNESCO, Paris 1960, pp. 120-124 (PDF, 1.774 MB)
  • John W. Backus, Friedrich L. Bauer, Julien Green, Charles Katz, John McCarthy, Alan J. Perlis, Heinz Rutishauser, Bernard Vauquois, Joseph Henry Wegstein, Adriaan van Wijngaarden & Michael Woodger: Algorithmic Language ALGOL Report on the 60th In: Communications of the ACM. 3 (5 ), 1960, pp. 299-314
  • Friedrich L. Bauer: Sequential Formula Translation. In: Communications of the ACM. 3 (2 ), 1960, pp. 76-83
  • Comments on ALGOL 60 Maintenance and Revisions. In: ALGOL Bulletin. Issue 12, April 1961
  • Programming Languages ​​and Their Processing. In: Information processing. Proceedings of the IFIP congress 62 North -Holland, Amsterdam, 1963, pp. 487-492
  • With Jürgen Eickelmann, Manfred Paul & Friedrich L. Bauer: A syntax controlled generator of formal language processors. In: Communications of the ACM. 6 (8 ), 1963, pp. 451-455
  • John W. Backus, Friedrich L. Bauer, Julien Green, Charles Katz, John McCarthy, Alan J. Perlis, Heinz Rutishauser, Bernard Vauquois, Joseph Henry Wegstein, Adriaan van Wijngaarden, Michael Woodger & Peter Naur: Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 In: Communications of the ACM. 6 (1 ), 1963, pp. 1-17
  • Friedrich L. Bauer (ed.): Language Hierarchies and Interfaces. International Summer School. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1976, ISBN 3-540-07994-7
  • (Ed.). ECI Conference 1976, Proceedings of the 1st European Cooperation in Informatics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 9-12, 1976 Springer, 1976, ISBN 0387078045.
  • Rupert Gnatz (ed.): Methods of computer science for computer-aided design and construction. GI Symposium, Munich, 19./21. October 1977. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1977, ISBN 3-540-08473-8
  • Lines of development in computer science. In: Sigram Schindler & Wolfgang K. Giloi (Eds. ): GI - 8th Annual Meeting. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1978, ISBN 3- 540-09038 -X, pp. 132-148
  • Friedrich L. Bauer, Manfred Broy, Walter Dosch, Rupert Gnatz, Bernd Krieg -Brückner, Alfred According to Manfred Luckmann, Thomas Matzner, Bernhard Möller, Helmut Partsch, Peter Pepper, Ralf Stein Bruggen, Martin Wirsing & Hans Wossner: Programming in a Wide Spectrum Language: A Collection of Examples. In: Science of Computer Programming. 1 (1-2 ), 1981, pp. 73-114
  • Friedrich L. Bauer: Sequential Formula Translation ( Reprint). In: Communications of the ACM. 26 (1 ), 1983, pp. 9-13
  • Friedrich L. Bauer, Rudolf Mountain Hammer, Manfred Broy, Walter Dosch, Franz Geiselbrechtinger, Rupert Gnatz, E. Hangel, Wolfgang Hesse, Bernd Krieg -Brückner, Alfred According to Thomas Matzner, Bernhard Möller, Friederike Nickl, Helmuth Partsch, Peter Pepper, Martin Wirsing & Hans Wossner: The Munich Project CIP. Volume I: The Wide Spectrum Language CIP -L. Springer, Berlin [ et al ], 1985, ISBN 3-540-15187-7
May 25 Wrocław Perm (Computer) Whirlwind I Deutsches Museum Alan Perlis Moritz Pasch Mathematics Genealogy Project Integrated Authority File
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