Jack B. Dennis is a computer science educator and researcher who is best known for his pioneering work in computer timesharing and dataflow technology. His early mechanical and electrical engineering interests led him to study computer technology at a time when it was just emerging as a field that would revolutionize the world. In addition to his computer research, Dennis has had a major role in shaping the computer science curriculum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Jack Bonnell Dennis was born on October 13, 1931, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Wolcott Dennis and Nereide Bonnell. His father was from Seattle and was employed at the Air Reduction Company in New Jersey. His duties included "boiling air," an oxygen extraction process where air is cooled to a liquid form, then gradually heated to "boil off" the nitrogen, leaving pure liquid oxygen. Dennis's mother grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey...