Joy Boulamwini
Birth: 1989
Death: N/A
Contributions to Computer Science: Joy Buolamwini is a poet of code who uses art and research to illuminate the social implications of artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to create a world with more equitable and accountable technology. Her TED Featured Talk on algorithmic bias has over 1 million views. Her MIT thesis methodology uncovered large racial and gender bias in AI services from companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon. Her research has been covered in over 40 countries, and as a renowned international speaker she has championed the need for algorithmic justice at the World Economic Forum and the United Nations. She serves on the Global Tech Panel convened by the vice president of European Commission to advise world leaders and technology executives on ways to reduce the harms of A.I.
Contributions to Computer Science: Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist with a PhD in philosophy from MIT's Media Lab. She uses art and research to illuminate the social implications of artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to create a world with more equitable and accountable technology.
Education: As an undergraduate, Buolamwini studied computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology, where she researched health informatics. Buolamwini graduated as a Stamps President's Scholar from Georgia Tech in 2012, and was the youngest finalist of the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize in 2009.
Buolamwini is a Rhodes Scholar, a Fulbright fellow, a Stamps scholar, an Astronaut Scholar and an Anita Borg Institute scholar. As a Rhodes Scholar, she studied learning and technology at Jesus College, Oxford. During her scholarship she took part in the first formal Service Year, working on community focused projects. She was awarded a Master's Degree from MIT in 2017 for research supervised by Ethan Zuckerman.
Sources:
https://www.media.mit.edu/people/joyab/overview/
https://kids.kiddle.co/Joy_Buolamwini
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/14/1085160422/computer-science-inequality-bias-algorithms-technology#:~:text=Joy%20Buolamwini%20is%20a%20computer,more%20equitable%20and%20accountable%20technology.
John McCarthy
Birth: September 4, 1927, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death: October 24, 2011, Stanford, California
Contributions to Computer Science: McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence in 1955, and he created the computer programming language LISP in 1958, McCarthy also was involved with developing Elephant 2000, a programming language with semantic features based on speech acts. Also, he played computer chess via telegraph with opponents in Russia and invented computer time-sharing. Later, Lisp was rejuvented and became the standard AI programming language and continues to be used today, not only in robotics and other scientific applications but in a plethora of internet-based services, from credit-card fraud detection to airline scheduling; it also paved the way for voice recognition technology, including Siri, the personal assistant application on the latest iPhone 4s.
Contributions to Computer Science: He also developed ideas about the processing characteristics of trees (as used in computing), as distinct from nets. McCarthy’s numerous honors included the A.M. Turing Award (1971), the Kyoto Prize (1988), the National Medal of Science (1990), and the Benjamin Franklin Medal (2003).
Education: McCarthy received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (1948) from the California Institute of Technology and a doctorate in mathematics (1951) from Princeton University, where he briefly taught. He also held professorships at Dartmouth College (1955–58); the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958–62), where he worked on the earliest time-sharing systems; and Stanford University (1953–55 and 1962–2000), where he founded the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL), one of the leading centres for research in the field.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-McCarthy
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/october/john-mccarthy-obit-102511.html#:~:text=McCarthy%20created%20the%20term%20%22artificial,and%20invented%20computer%20time%2Dsharing.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-mccarthy-computer-scientist-known-as-the-father-of-ai-6255307.html
Mark Dean
Birth: March 2, 1957
Death: N/A
Contributions to Computer Science: He played of role of supplying three patents for the first IBM personal Computer which was released in 1981. He also contributed things like the PS/2 Models 70 and 80. He also lead the team that built a gigahertz (1000mhz) chip whichw as capable of doing a billion calculations per second.
Education: He attended Jefferson City High School and was recognized by his classmates and teachers mostly of white race because of his intellect and straight A-grades. He slowly developed an interest in science and technology.
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/inventor/mark-dean
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/computer-science/dean_mark.html
https://www.black-inventor.com/dr-mark-dean
