In photo are the early APL developers, from left to right: Dick Lathwell, Ken Iverson, Roger Moore, Adin Falkoff, Phil Abrams, Larry Breed.
On this day in 1921 American engineer and computer and programming systems designer Adin D. Falkoff was born. Born in New Jersey, Falkoff received his Bachelor of Engineering from the City College of New York in 1941 and then received his Master’s degree in Mathematics from Yale University in 1963. He began working in IBM in 1955, where he worked with Canadian computer scientist Kenneth Iverson in developing A Programming Language or APL. From 1960 to 1980 Falkoff worked with Iverson on the design, development and use of APL.
Falkoff worked at IBM Research for over forty years before retiring. He became a visiting member of the faculty of IBM’s Systems Research Institute, taught computer science at Yale University, and helped establish and manage the IBM Philadelphia Scientific Center. He received many awards for his work on APL in particular, including IBM’s Outstanding Contribution Award.
Falkoff passed away on August 10, 2010 at the age of 88.