# The most important pioneers of computer science

From Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, who dreamed of the computer in the 19th century, through Alan Turing and Grace Hopper to Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web: the people without whom there would be no computers, no internet and no software. Who was the most important?

- 3 votes · 20 items
- Jul 20, 2024 · labrat
- https://even.best/en/l/3732/the-most-important-pioneers-of-computer-science

## Top 20

1. **Ada Lovelace** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — She wrote the first algorithm for a machine: the first programmer.
2. **Alan Turing** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Turing machine and the Turing test; father of modern computer science.
3. **James Gosling** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — He created the Java programming language.
4. **Charles Babbage** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — He designed the Difference Engine and conceived the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer.
5. **John von Neumann** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The von Neumann architecture: programs and data in the same memory.
6. **Grace Hopper** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — She developed the first compiler.
7. **Tim Berners-Lee** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — He invented the World Wide Web and HTML.
8. **Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The fathers of TCP/IP, the language of the internet.
9. **Donald Knuth** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Author of "The Art of Computer Programming".
10. **Edsger Dijkstra** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — His algorithm finds the shortest path.
11. **Marvin Minsky** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — One of the founding fathers of artificial intelligence.
12. **Margaret Hamilton** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — She led the software for the Apollo Guidance Computer.
13. **Katherine Johnson** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — She calculated the trajectories of NASA missions.
14. **Frances E. Allen** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A pioneer of compiler optimisation.
15. **Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — They invented public-key cryptography.
16. **Linus Torvalds** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — He created the Linux kernel.
17. **Bjarne Stroustrup** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — He developed the C++ programming language.
18. **Guido van Rossum** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — He invented the Python programming language.
19. **Larry Page and Sergey Brin** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — They founded Google with their PageRank algorithm.
20. **Mark Dean** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Co-inventor of the PC's ISA bus.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.