Hal Abelson

Hal Abelson is the Class of 1992 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the MIT, and a fellow of the IEEE. He holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from MIT.

Sourced

• If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.
  • Source: Public Knowledge - Hal Abelson
    • Abelson attributes this thought to his Princeton roommate Jeff Goll; Source: Hal Abelson

• Applicants must also have extensive knowledge of Unix, although they should have sufficiently good programming taste to not consider this an achievement
  • Source: http://anusf.anu.edu.au/~drw900/quotes.html - MIT job advertisement

• In the Middle Ages people built cathedrals, where the whole town would get together and make a thing that's greater than any individual person could do and the society would kind of revel in that. We don't do that as much anymore, but in a sense this is kind of like building a cathedral.
  • Source: Auditing Classes at M.I.T. - New York Times Interview, pg. 1

• Anything which uses science as part of its name isn't: political science, creation science, computer science.
  • Source: The Nature of Belief

• "What’s important is not just to develop the technology; it’s to develop the processes."
  • Source: mitcet

• "It is not that there is some magic technology. It is what are you going to do with it?"
  • Source: mitcet

• "Universities are meant to pass the torch of civilization."
  • Source: MIT's maverick view of intellectual property worth considering

• "Giving it away helps defuse complex intellectual property issues of ownership and control that can distract the universities from their missions to disseminate knowledge." - commmenting on MIT's Open Courseware program
  • Source: MIT's maverick view of intellectual property worth considering

Recommended Reading

• Turtle Geometry: The Computer as a Medium for Exploring Mathematics (1981)
• Logo for the Apple II (1982)
• Apple Logo (1982)
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (1985)
• Logo for the Macintosh: An Introduction through Object Logo (1992)
• Architects of the Information Society (1999) - edited by with Simson L. Garfinkel