Alan J. Perlis is best known for his innovative work in computer programming languages and compilers. Perlis was a keen educator and helped set up several computer departments at universities throughout the United States.

Alan J. Perlis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1922. After a local education Perlis received a B.S. in chemistry from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now the Carnegie Melon University) in 1943. Immediately upon completing his studies Perlis joined the war effort, serving in the United States Army Air Force until 1945. Upon cessation of hostilities Perlis continued his studies and he was awarded an M.S. in 1949 and a Ph.D. in 1950. Both of these degrees were in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Between 1948 and 1949, while at MIT, Perlis was employed as an adviser on Project Whirlwind between. (Project Whirlwind was originally conceived as an analog computer flight simulator, but with...