The (almost) lost PhD thesis of UNIX creator Dennis Ritchie

This is the fascinating story of Dennis Ritchie’s lost PhD thesis!

For anyone who is enamored with mathematics, computer science, and the intrigues of academia, it makes for fascinating reading.

Like Harvard, both of the Universities at which I did PhD’s (and Stellenbosch where I now teach) require the submission of a bound (and now also an electronic copy) of a completed PhD before they will award the degree.

So you can complete the thesis, be examined and pass, and still not get the degree if you do not submit a bound copy the Library. I had to supply signed (yes actual signed paper) letters to confirm that my copy was submitted at Radboud University. At UNISA I think they were more sensible and accepted an email.

So it seems that Dennis Ritchie, the architect of the UNIX operating system, finished his PhD at Harvard in 1968, passed it, but never bothered to submit a bound copy to the library and so it was lost for some decades!

You can read all about it here: https://computerhistory.org/.../discovering-dennis.../

#UNIX #PHD #Harvard #ComputerScience #Mathematics #ComputerHistory