As modern technologies such as artificial intelligence grab today’s headlines, it’s worth remembering that their foundations were being laid more than half a century ago by computer scientists, philosophers, psychologists, developers, entrepreneurs, and more. These pioneers and those who followed tackled issues and solved problems that future generations may never know existed — but without their seminal work, we wouldn’t be where we are today. As we look back on 2025, Computerworld honors the lives of those we lost, including our own beloved colleague Lucas Mearian . Here are 22 tech trailblazers whose accomplishments helped shape our world. Steve Langasek: Debian devotee April 27, 1979 – January 1, 2025 Steve Langasek discusses the Ubuntu release process and what it takes to manage it. Credit: Ubuntu After experimenting with Slackware and Red Hat as a teenager, Steve Langasek began contributing to Debian Linux at 21 — then dedicated the rest of his life to open-source software. He eventually rose to principal engineer, volunteer release manager for Debian, Ubuntu release manager for Canonical, and maintainer or co-maintainer of packages such as samba, pam, and openldap2.3 — all while serving as a respected Linux leader, organizer, and mentor. “Steve shone with a clarity of purpose that motivated many others to build the very best open source platforms they could dream about,” wrote Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. “He touched thousands of people’s lives directly, and his work improves the lives of millions.” Langasek was 45 when he passed. Mike Maples Sr.: The adult in the room August 25, 1942 – January 9, 2025 Mike Maples, Sr. discusses the early days of Microsoft on the Legends & Losers Podcast. Credit: Legends & Losers Podcast In 1988, Microsoft hired Mike Maples Sr. , a decades-long veteran of IBM, to serve as the executive vice president of the Worldwide Products Group. Microsoft “was just a bunch of kids struggling to figure out how to do things,” said Maples, who, at 46, was more than a decade older than co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Maples restructured Microsoft so it could evolve from startup to enterprise, and he raised the bar for quality assurance and customer commitments, reducing defects and release delays for products as vital as Windows and Microsoft Office. Maples headed the products group at Microsoft until his retirement in 1995. He was 82 when he died. Cordell Green: Theoretical logician December 26, 1941 – February 12, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 3063w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=235%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 235w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=768%2C982&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=801%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 801w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=1201%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1201w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=1601%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1601w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=545%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 545w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=131%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 131w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=66%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 66w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=375%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 375w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=281%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 281w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-cordell-green.jpg?resize=195%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 195w" width="801" height="1025" sizes="auto, (max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px"> Cordell Green Kestrel Institute Logic programming dates to the 1970s with Prolog and Datalog, languages that presented radically different approaches to programming. Still used today in applications such as big data processing, these languages, as well as modern, inference-based AI systems, were made possible by Dr. Cordell Green , who established the theoretical basis for the field of logic programming. His work earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1985. Green also worked at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where he assisted those who were creating ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. And in 1981, Green founded the Kestrel Institute , a nonprofit dedicated to software program synthesis, refinement, analysis, and verification. He died at 83. Rod Burstall: AI educator November 11, 1934 – February 13, 2025 Rod Burstall ’s career at the University of Edinburgh spanned from 1964 to his retirement in 2000. In the late 1960s, he contributed to the creation of programming languages COWSEL and POP-2 , which persisted for decades and were used to teach early AI programming to college students in the 1980s. And in 1987, Burstall and three colleagues founded the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), a collaborative community of scientists exploring the analysis and design of computing systems. The lab exists to this day, having researched such fields as blockchain technology, quantum computing, and secure voting models. Burstall was 90 when he passed. Ronald A. Katz: Inventing connections March 10, 1936 – March 28, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 720w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=200%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 200w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 683w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=465%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 465w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=112%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 112w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=56%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 56w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=320%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 320w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=240%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 240w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=167%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 167w" width="683" height="1025" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px"> Ronald Katz UCLA Ronald Katz began innovating in the phone industry at the age of 25, when he co-founded Telecredit, a company that provided vendors with automated phone verification of personal checks. A prolific inventor, Katz held more than 50 US patents involving phone-routing systems, speech recognition, video monitoring, and more. Call centers that relied on his inventions included those of IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, HP, and Citibank. Katz used his fortune to fund the establishment of the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health Operation Mend , supporting the physical and mental health needs of veterans; and UCLA’s 3 Wishes Project , helping end-of-life patients achieve their final wishes. He died at 89. David Täht: Battling bufferbloat August 11, 1965 – April 1, 2025 Dave Täht relates his conversation with Elon Musk about Starlink’s bufferbloat on TWiT.tv’s FLOSS Weekly show. Credit: TWiT Tech Podcast Network If you’ve ever streamed a movie, hopped on a video call, or played an online game, you can thank Dave Täht — CEO of TekLibre and chief science officer at LibreQoS — for that seamless experience. Täht tackled the issue of network latency by zeroing in on “bufferbloat,” the tendency of internet routers to buffer too much data, resulting in lag. With Jim Gettys, he co-founded the Bufferbloat Project to address this flaw at the software level, leading to improvements across many Linux distributions powering today’s routers. The beneficiaries of his work range from consumers to corporations such as Netflix and Microsoft. Täht was 59 when he died. Lee Yong-tae: Korea’s PC pioneer August 18, 1932 – April 14, 2025 In the 1970s, while the United States was adopting computers that used the Roman alphabet, Lee Yong-tae was developing the first terminals to accept Hangul, the Korean alphabet. In 1980 he founded Sambo Computers, Korea’s first dedicated computer company, which released the first Korean-made PC in 1981; an Apple II clone in 1982; a PC-compatible in 1984; and, in 1989, a laptop that supported MS-DOS, Mac OS, and Unix. By 1990, Sambo also controlled 80% of the country’s printer market, and it proceeded to manufacture millions of laptops a year and to provide broadband internet access through its ISP, Dru-net. After facing stiff competition in the 2000s, the company was broken up in 2010, with some assets now managed by Lee’s son. The founder died at 92. David Cope: Music modeler May 17, 1941 – May 4, 2025 Computer History Museum interview with David Cope. Credit: Computer History Museum In 1981, UC Santa Cruz music professor David Cope found himself creatively blocked and unable to compose an opera he’d been commissioned to write. So he instead developed software  to write the music for him. The result was EMI, or Experiments in Musical Intelligence, a program that could ingest an artist’s work and then create a new score in the same style. Cope used EMI to create new works in the style of Mozart, Brahms, and other classical greats, with results so stylistically similar to those of the original artists that even trained listeners couldn’t tell the difference. AI-generated music is practically a parlor trick today, but 40 years ago, Cope’s work was an unprecedented crescendo. He was 83 when he passed. Gail Wellington: Herding CATS January 14, 1940 – May 14, 2025 Gail Wellington recounts stories from her time at Commodore. Credit: Amiga Bill The Commodore PET was one of three computers that launched the personal computing revolution in 1977. In 1981 Commodore hired Gail Wellington , who had a degree in tech writing, to produce user manuals for third-party software that ran on the PET. She rose through the company’s ranks to become head of software operations and later worldwide Amiga product manager. She oversaw the 1985 launch of the Amiga computer , the 1987 formation of the Commodore Applications and Technical Support (CATS) group, and the development of the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision ( CDTV ), a home entertainment and gaming console that was released in 1991 but was a commercial flop. Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, but not before redefining the home computing landscape — and modern versions of its hardware are still available . Wellington was 85 when she died. Peter Lax: Explosive equations May 1, 1926 – May 16, 2025 Peter Lax in 1969 Konrad Jacobs Hungarian mathematician Peter Lax was a child prodigy who, at the age of 19, worked on the Manhattan Project , calculating shockwaves from nuclear bombs. After the war, Lax earned his PhD and joined the faculty at NYU but continued to work for Los Alamos and the US Atomic Energy Commission. While he was best known for his mathematical breakthroughs in the field of hyperbolic partial differential equations, for which he was awarded the prestigious Abel Prize in 2005 , he had a profound impact on information technology through his early and ongoing application of supercomputers to a variety of mathematical problems. Throughout his career, Lax used computers to analyze complex data, effectively demonstrating the value of computers in science and engineering and laying the groundwork for their use across a wide variety of disciplines today. He was 99 when he passed. Jean-Raymond Abrial: A model scientist November 6, 1938 – May 26, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 604w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=225%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 225w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=523%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 523w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=126%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 126w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=63%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 63w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=360%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 360w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=270%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 270w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-jean-raymond-abrial.jpg?resize=188%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 188w" width="604" height="805" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px"> Jean-Raymond Abrial Dinesbjorner Computer scientist Jean-Raymond Abrial developed Z notation — not a programming language, but a series of mathematical rules and specifications for how a computing system should operate. He later created B method — a way to define and refine mathematical models that ultimately results in software development. These approaches to software engineering are still in use today, having been used to develop the code for the Paris Métro Line 14 train, which runs through the center of Paris. The B-Book , which details his method, is still in print. Abrial died at 86. George E. Smith: Picture perfect May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 744w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=211%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 211w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=721%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 721w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=491%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 491w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=118%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 118w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=59%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 59w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=338%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 338w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=254%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 254w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-george-e-smith.jpg?resize=176%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 176w" width="721" height="1023" sizes="auto, (max-width: 721px) 100vw, 721px"> George E. Smith Prolineserver In 1969, George E. Smith and his Bell Laboratories colleague Willard S. Boyle developed the charge-coupled device (CCD), an integrated circuit the size of a dime that converts photons to electrons. Bell used the CCD to showcase a video telephone at the 1964 World’s Fair — decades before Zoom or FaceTime. But the CCD was no mere novelty: it became the basis for digital photography and is used in millions of modern devices, from smartphones to x-rays to the Hubble Space Telescope. The global impact of this small invention earned Smith and Boyle the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics . Smith was 95. Bill Atkinson: Graphical visionary March 17, 1951 – June 5, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2052w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=251%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 251w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=768%2C918&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=857%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 857w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=1285%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1285w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=1713%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1713w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=583%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 583w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=141%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 141w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=70%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 70w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=402%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 402w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=301%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 301w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-bill-atkinson.jpg?resize=209%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 209w" width="857" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 857px) 100vw, 857px"> Bill Atkinson Jay Cross Bill Atkinson joined Apple Computer as employee #51 at the age of 27. He designed and developed both a graphical user interface (GUI) and its underlying technology, LisaGraf (later QuickDraw), for the Apple Lisa — a commercial flop, but also a proving ground for nascent technologies for Apple’s next product. Atkinson then became one of the founding members of the team developing the Macintosh , the success of which was in large part owed to its intuitive GUI. Atkinson also developed MacPaint, which shipped with the Mac, and HyperCard, a hypermedia database program, which Sir Tim Berners-Lee cited as an inspiration in his original proposal for what became the World Wide Web. Without Atkinson, neither Apple nor the Web would be what they are today. He was 74 when he passed. Barry Vercoe: Audio engineer July 24, 1937 – June 15, 2025 Barry Vercoe’s TEDx Talk about lessons learned from founding the MIT Media Lab. Credit: TEDx Talks New Zealand-born Barry Vercoe joined MIT in 1971, where he spent the next five decades researching, developing, and teaching digital audio analysis and processing. In 1984, he became a founding member of the MIT Media Lab , where he developed Csound , an open-source programming language for audio programming. Csound is still used by computer music composers today, and it powers the audio aspects of the One Laptop Per Child project. Structured Audio Orchestra Language (SAOL), derived from Csound, is a key component of the MPEG-4 compression codec used in almost all modern audio and video formats. Vercoe passed at age 87. Mike Woodger: ACE pilot March 28, 1923 – July 14, 2025 A history of the Pilot ACE, narrated by Mike Woodger and James Wilkinson. Credit: National Physics Laboratory While at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory in the 1940s, Alan Turning designed the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) computer. When he left in 1947, it fell to Mike Woodger and his team to complete the project, which culminated in a scaled-down prototype in 1950. The Pilot ACE , one of the UK’s first computers, was so practical that a full-fledged ACE was never built; instead, the Pilot ACE was adapted for commercial use under the name DEUCE. Woodger later contributed to the development of the programming languages ALGOL 60 and Ada . The latter was commissioned by the US Department of Defense to replace over four hundred different programming languages then in use across the DoD; the department still uses Ada today. Woodger was 102. Margaret Boden: AI philosopher November 26, 1936 – July 18, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 3201w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=296%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 296w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=768%2C779&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=1010%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 1010w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=1515%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1515w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=2020%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 2020w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=687%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 687w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=166%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 166w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=83%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 83w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=473%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 473w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=355%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 355w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-margaret-boden.jpg?resize=247%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 247w" width="1010" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1010px) 100vw, 1010px"> Margaret Boden Bengt Oberger As a philosopher and cognitive scientist, Margaret Boden dedicated her life to studying artificial intelligence. She theorized not only what AI could and could not be capable of (such as various kinds of creativity), but also how it could serve as a model for the human condition and thought processes. In 2010, Boden contributed to “ Principles of Robotics ,” an influential paper proposing five rules for responsible robotics development, such as “the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users” and “robots should be designed and operated to comply with existing law, including privacy.” These standards became the basis for UNESCO’s official recommendations for laws to govern our growing use of AI tools such as large language models — tools that Boden herself predicted but never experienced firsthand, as she was already in a care home by the time LLMs emerged. Boden was 88 when she passed. Gilles Dowek: Formal unifier December 20, 1966 – July 21, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 853w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=200%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 200w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=682%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 682w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=464%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 464w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=112%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 112w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=56%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 56w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=320%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 320w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=240%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 240w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-gilles-dowek.jpg?resize=167%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 167w" width="682" height="1023" sizes="auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px"> Gilles Dowek Sébastien Dolidon Gilles Dowek was a researcher at the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology ( Inria ), a French computer science and applied mathematics research institute. There, he observed that Inria’s different teams were siloed, using different organizational methods and proof systems to conduct their research. Dowek set out to unify these formal logic systems to improve communication and discoverability between teams. His later work focused on programming languages for quantum computers and logic as a field of thought. Dowek was also a tireless human rights advocate who chaired the Association for the Recognition of the Rights of Homosexual and Trans People to Immigration and Residence ( Ardhis ), ensuring that French citizens and nationals, at home or abroad, have the right to residence and asylum. He was 58 when he died. Morton Meyerson: The outsourcer June 3, 1938 – August 5, 2025 Morton Meyerson discusses his biggest mistakes and lessons learned as part of Next Jump’s CEOTalks series. Credit: Next Jump H. Ross Perot may have revolutionized IT outsourcing when he founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS), but Morton Meyerson was the brains of the operation. Hired in 1966 as EDS’s 54 th employee, Meyerson swiftly secured the company a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Meyerson used this opportunity to implement a business model that became known as IT outsourcing, leading EDS’s profit to increase a hundredfold in just two years. Meyerson eventually became the president of EDS, remaining in the role even after General Motors bought EDS for $2.5 billion in 1984. He later founded a family investment firm, 2M Companies, and a philanthropic nonprofit, Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation . He was inducted into the Outsourcing Hall of Fame in 2013. Meyerson died at age 87. Stephanie Shirley: Call me Steve September 16, 1933 – August 9, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 757w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=150%2C150&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=300%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=697%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 697w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=168%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 168w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=84%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 84w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=480%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 480w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=360%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 360w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-stephanie-shirley.jpg?resize=250%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 250w" width="757" height="757" sizes="auto, (max-width: 757px) 100vw, 757px"> Stephanie Shirley Lynn Hart Born in Germany to a Jewish family in 1933, Stephanie Shirley escaped to the United Kingdom, where she became a gifted and determined mathematician and computer scientist. After being subjected to the sexism that was rampant in a male-dominated industry, Shirley set out to ensure a different experience for those who followed. She founded Freelance Programmers, an outsourcing company that hired women, especially mothers, almost exclusively. Contracts came more easily when she signed her name “Steve,” and Freelance Programmers eventually grew into Xansa, a multi-billion-dollar company whose projects included the Concorde airplane’s “black box” flight recorder. Shirley gave away most of her fortune to charities and even to her own employees, making millionaires of countless other women. Shirley was 91. Warren Brodey: Enhancing AI January 25, 1924 – August 10, 2025 Warren Brody reflects on his long and unusual life on his 100th birthday. Credit: Post-Utopia Trained as a psychiatrist, Warren Brodey nonetheless focused on cybernetics and artificial intelligence throughout his life. Starting in 1965, he spent most of his career at MIT, where he worked alongside famed AI researcher Marvin Minsky . Whereas Minsky advocated for AI based on large quantities of existing data, thus reinforcing existing norms, Brodey campaigned for AI that, by being creative and revolutionary, would rethink and enhance humanity. Brodey co-founded two labs, the Environmental Ecology Lab and later Ecology Tool and Toy, where he further explored materials and environments that responded to and improved human behavior — concepts he still believed possible, even with the rise of modern AI that followed Minsky’s model. He died at 101. Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman: India’s grandfather of IT education September 8, 1933 – November 8, 2025 Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman reminisces about establishing India’s first computer science education program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Credit: DoRA IITK As a student at the Indian Institute of Science (IIsc) in 1956, Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman was instrumental in designing the Philbrick Rideout Electronic Differential Analyzer (PREDA), India’s first analog computer. He went on to establish the country’s first formal computer science program of study at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in 1965. In 1987, he helped the government found the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, bringing supercomputer development to India. Over the course of his long career in academia, Rajaraman wrote 23 computer science textbooks on topics ranging from Fortran to ecommerce, informing and influencing generations of computer scientists worldwide. Some of his own students went on to lead Indian IT giants Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys . He was 92 when he passed. Rebecca Heineman: Burger Becky October 30, 1963 – November 17, 2025 srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2442w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=292%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 292w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=768%2C790&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=995%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 995w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1493%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1493w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1990%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1990w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=677%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 677w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=163%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 163w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=82%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 82w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=466%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 466w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=350%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 350w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=243%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 243w" width="995" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px"> Rebecca Heineman Ken Gagne In 1980, a teenage Rebecca Heineman was crowned Space Invaders champion in the first-ever national video game tournament . Her star continued to rise from there: in 1983, Heineman was one of four co-founders of Interplay Entertainment, where she developed such games as The Bard’s Tale and Battle Chess. Later games from Interplay included Wasteland, Fallout, and Baldur’s Gate. Many of these franchises exist to this today, having inspired countless sequels, copycats, and television adaptations. Heineman later founded Contraband Entertainment, MacPlay, Logicware, and Olde Sküül, and she was a trans advocate on Amazon’s LGBTQ+ group and with organizations such as GLAAD and Press XY . Through her memorable games, public advocacy, and “ Burgertime ” YouTube series, “Burger Becky” inspired countless developers, gamers, and members of the queer community. She was 62 when she died.