Microsoft researcher, a computing pioneer, wins Turing Award

For inventing a prototype of the modern PC, Microsoft researcher Chuck Thacker has won the prestigious A.M. Turing Award for a lifetime of contributions to computing.

"I'm still recovering," Thacker said Tuesday. He found out a few weeks ago, and the award will be presented in June. The honor comes with a $250,000 prize.

The Association for Computing Machinery announced Tuesday that Charles Thacker, who goes by Chuck, is the 2009 winner of the Turing, named after Alan Turing, a British mathematician often considered the father of computer science.

The association said in a statement that Thacker was chosen for his work on building the Alto, the first modern personal computer. The machine, which came out in 1974, became a prototype for networked personal computers.

Thacker, 67, designed Alto while working for the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California, also known as Xerox PARC.

"His enduring achievements — from his initial innovations on the PC to his leadership in hardware development of the multiprocessor workstation to his role in developing the tablet PC — have profoundly affected the course of modern computing," said association president Dame Wendy Hall in a statement.

The Alto revolutionized computing with a TV-like display technology known as bitmap, which led to the development of the graphical user interface.

The technology ended the era of text-based computer screens.

In a statement, Thacker said, "When people say, 'What have you done for Microsoft lately?' I say: 'You don't understand. The most impact I've had on Microsoft was work that was done before Microsoft even existed, when Bill [Gates] was in short pants.' "

Thacker also coinvented the Ethernet in 1973, which made it possible to connect PCs, printers, modems and other devices.

Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research, said in a statement that he owes his career to Thacker's work because he used the Alto and Ethernet as a graduate student in 1975.

Thacker also helped found DEC's Systems Research Center in 1984.

Thacker joined Microsoft in 1997, helping open the Microsoft Research laboratory in Cambridge, England, then worked on designing the Tablet PC.

Thacker now lives in Palo Alto and works for Microsoft in Silicon Valley. He is doing research on computer architecture.

"You have to understand that I've never thought that I would get the Turing award, because the last time the Turing award was awarded to someone who built computers as their primary work, that was over 40 years," he said in a brief interview Tuesday.

"It's usually awarded to either software folks or theoreticians. And I'm not either."

He said he plans to give the prize money away to universities, which he has done in the past with other awards.

There are benefits. "You can get tickets to football games," he said. But "you cannot get parking passes."

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com