Written by William L. Hosch Written by William L. Hosch  Alan
Jay Perlis  Written by William L. Hosch  Alan Jay Perlis,  (born
April 1, 1922—died Feb. 7, 1990), American mathematician and
computer scientist. He was the first winner, in 1966, of the
A.M. Turing Award, given by the Association of Computing
Machinery (ACM) and recognized internationally as the highest
honour in computer science. In particular, Perlis was cited for
“his influence in the area of advanced programming techniques
and compiler construction.” Perlis was one of the most important
individuals in establishing computer science as a distinct
academic field.  In 1943 Perlis earned a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now
Carnegie Mellon University). During World War II, Perlis served
in the U.S. Army Air Forces in Europe. Following the war Perlis
earned a master’s degree (1949) and a doctorate (1950) in
mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
where he worked on Whirlwind, the first r