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Guide to the Robert W. Floyd Papers
SC0625
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Table of contents
Call Number: SC0625
Creator:
Floyd, Robert W.
Title: Robert W. Floyd papers
Dates: 1960-1995
Physical Description:
26 Linear feet
Summary: These papers include his Stanford course files, 1976-94;
correspondence, 1968-95, including that with Donald Knuth, 1963-1987; research and
subject files; reprints and manuscripts; computer printouts; and note cards. Some
materials relate to his interest in backgammon.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: speccollref@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html
Gift of the estate of Robert W. Floyd, 2002.
This collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is
given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Robert W. Floyd Papers (SC0625). Department of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Robert W. Floyd joined the Stanford faculty in 1968 as an associate professor of
computer science. He was appointed full professor in 1970 and from 1973 to 1975 he was
chair of the department. He retired from Stanford in 1994. A child prodigy, Floyd
graduated from high school at age 14 and earned his first bachelor's degree at the age
of 17 and his second in physics in 1958, both at the University of Chicago. A
self-taught computer operator and programmer, he became a Senior Project Scientist at
Computer Associates in Massachusetts in 1962. He taught at the Carnegie Institute of
Technology prior to his appointment at Stanford. His most important scientific
achievement was pioneering systematic methods of program verification. His research
included design and analysis of algorithms for finding the shortest paths in a network,
parsing (decomposing) programming languages, calculating quantiles, printing shades of
gray on a dot printer, sorting information and selecting random permutations and
combinations. In 1978, Floyd won the Association for Computing Machinery Turing Award,
the highest honor in computer science. In 1991, the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society awarded Floyd its Computer Pioneer Award
for his work on early compilers. Floyd was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association
for Computing Machinery. He died in September 2001.
These papers include his Stanford course files, 1976-94; correspondence, 1968-95,
including that with Donald Knuth, 1963-1987; research and subject files; reprints and
manuscripts; computer printouts; and note cards. Some materials relate to his interest
in backgammon.
Floyd, Robert W.
Knuth, Donald Ervin, 1938-
Stanford University--Curricula.
Stanford University. Computer Science Dept.
Backgammon.
Computer programming.
Formal languages.
Machine theory.