John Warner Backus (December 3, 1924 – March 17, 2007) was an American computer scientist. He led the team that invented and implemented FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level programming language, and was the inventor of the Backus–Naur form (BNF), a widely used notation to define syntaxes of formal languages.

Mar 13, 2025 · John Warner Backus (born Dec. 3, 1924, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died March 17, 2007, Ashland, Ore.) was an American computer scientist and mathematician who led the team that designed FORTRAN (formula translation), the …

Backus is best known as the father of Fortran, the first widely used, high-level programming language that helped open the door to modern computing

Feb 5, 2025 · Meet John Backus, the brilliant mind behind FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level programming language that revolutionized computing.

John Backus developed Fortran, or Formula Translator, one of the first general purpose, high-level computer programming languages. This widely used language made computers practical and accessible machines for scientists and others without requiring them to have deep knowledge of the machinery.

Mar 17, 2007 · For profound, influential, and lasting contributions to the design of practical high-level programming systems, notably through his work on FORTRAN, and for seminal publication of formal procedures for the specification of programming languages.

The caption reads: "John Backus, leader of the group which developed FORTRAN (1954-57), was an early SSEC programmer." After serving in the US Army in World War II, Backus received his BS in mathematics from Columbia's School of General Studies in 1949 and he also earned a Columbia Masters in mathematics in 1950.

Apr 12, 2017 · John Warner Backus was an American computer scientist. He led the team that invented the first widely used high-level programming language (FORTRAN) and was the inventor of the Backus-Naur form (BNF), the almost universally used notation to …

Mar 20, 2025 · John Backus was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1924. He received an MS in mathematics from Columbia University (1950). Shortly before he graduated, Backus interviewed at IBM and was hired to work on programming their new computer systems.

John Warner Backus (December 3, 1924–March 17, 2007) was an American computer scientist. He directed the team that invented the first widely used.