Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) Founder Jacob E. Goldman -- RIP

Jacob Goldman (left) in a 1975 photo
(photo from LA Times, credited to Joyce Dopkeen/NY Times)

Jacob E. Goldman, a Xerox chief scientist who pushed and prodded the firm to open the now-legendary Palo Alto Research Center (PALC), died recently at age 90. His Los Angeles Times obit provides a simple, readable overview of his life and professional stature. A number of tech publications, such as engadget.com, offer fascinating details that extend understanding of Goldman's and PALC's contributions to what might very well turn out to be America's Golden Age for innovation. (I recommend taking time to scan the reader comments in those posts.) The New York Times' obit, written by John Markoff, also provides interesting background on Goldman's achievements and life.

PALC's activities impacted essential elements of Silicon Valley's core creations. Among them were the personal computer, the Ethernet, the laser printer, the WYSIWYG keyboard, and the GUI (graphical user interface). Amazingly, with the exception of the laser printer, Xerox never really grasped the potential of what Goldman's tech incubator had created.  It took Steve Jobs and the original Apple team, which famously got a peek at PALC's GUI wizardry, to bring it into commercial relevance.

Goldman realized that top-flight research and development generates rewards that span generations. The intellectual property PALC (and its inspiration, Bell Labs) created became mother lodes of the late 20th Century's true gold. These innovations have completely reshaped the world's expectations and use of technology.

In the last decade or so, American firms have largely pulled the plug on research and development in misguided corporate efficiency pogroms. While saving a few bucks, this collective act of folly has eviscerated this country's once-incredible advantage in scientific and technological research. Some firms, such as Google, have picked up the torch that Jacob Goldman once insisted be held, and held high. Unfortunately, they are the exceptions in a world of impatient "monetization." We need far more long-view research and development, and much more confident corporate leadership, than we're getting. Short-sighted greed is no substitute for the development of intellectual and very tangible riches.

Dennis Ritchie, Unix Co-Developer and C Programming Language Developer -- RIP

Dennis Ritchie
1941-2011

Dennis Ritchie isn't a household name outside of the tech world. However, inside the scientific realms where Bell Labs once reigned supreme, he was a profound force. A Harvard and MIT grad whose work shaped generations of technology, Ritchie died this week in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, just a few miles from the former Bell Labs campus. His obit appeared in today's New York Times.

Ritchie was unique among the nation's tech elite in that he was a rare, second generation Bell Labs scientist. His work included designing the C computer programming language and sharing in the development of the Unix operating system. Not bad. Ritchie's passing is also a reminder that the United States, for all the current hysteria over education, has managed over the past couple of generations to produce some damn bright men and women. Ritchie was one of them. He lived more or less in obscurity, except in the tech world, where he was a giant.

The blog from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University offers some interesting observations about Ritchie. (You have to scroll a bit to find the relevant entries.) The most striking one claims that it was on Ritchie's strong shoulders that others, including Apple and Google, were able to stand tall.