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Title:
Jeff Rulifson papers
Identifier/Call Number: 102733946
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
5.0 Linear feet
4 record cartons
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1961-1985
Date (inclusive): 1956-1997
Abstract: The Jeff Rulifson papers contain materials that document Rulifson's career as a computer scientist working on projects such
as artificial intelligence, NLS (oN-Line Systems), and office information systems at Stanford Research Institute's Augmentation
Research Center, Xerox PARC, ROLM Corporation, Syntelligence, Inc., and Sun Microsystems. The records span 1956 through 1997,
with the bulk of the collection being from 1961 to 1985. Materials include technical papers and reports, videotape, correspondence,
articles, memos, presentations, computer and programming manuals, and administrative papers.
creator:
Rulifson, Jeff
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, 2015.
The collection is open for research.
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
[Identification of Item], [Date], Jeff Rulifson papers, Lot X6502.2012, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History
Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Jeff Rulifson, 2011.
Johns "Jeff" Rulifson was born August 20, 1941, in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He began his career working in the computer operations
department of Boeing from 1960 to 1963. He then worked at the Computer Center of the University of Washington from 1963 to
1965, and earned his BS in mathematics from the university in 1966.
Rulifson went on to work for the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Augmentation Research Center from 1966 through 1973. At
SRI, Rulifson was instrumental in the research of artificial intelligence programming languages, specifically focusing on
question-answering systems. He was also the lead programmer for their pioneering collaborative computing system NLS (oN-Line
System). In 1968, Rulifson represented SRI in the ARPANET network working group, a consortium of computer scientists who worked
together to implement the ARPANET, the networking technology that was the basis for today's internet.
Rulifson left SRI in 1973 and went to work at Xerox PARC, where he was manager of the office research group, which developed
autonomous, distributed office information systems (OIS). In 1980, he began working for ROLM Corporation as an engineering
manager, and in 1985 he moved to Syntelligence, where he was the manager of banking products. In 1987, Rulifson joined Sun
Microsystems, which was purchased by Oracle in 2010, as the director of VLSI Research, a position he still holds. Rulifson
held chairman of the board positions at the Doug Engelbart Institute from 1995 to 2014, and the Open Group from 2001 to 2003.
In 1990, Rulifson won the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Software Systems award for his work on NLS, along with
co-developers Doug Engelbart and Bill English. He became an ACM fellow in 1994.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Jeff Rulifson papers contain materials collected by Rulifson during his time at Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation
Research Center, Xerox PARC, ROLM Corporation, Syntelligence, Inc., and Sun Microsystems. The records span 1956 through 1997
with the bulk of the collection being from 1961 to 1985. The materials from Rulifson's work at SRI ARC includes reports, notes,
and videos related to his work on the QA4 artificial intelligence programming language and NLS (oN-Line System), and writings
and video footage of his colleague at SRI ARC, Doug Engelbart. Rulifson's records from Xerox PARC document his work as manager
of the Office Research Group, where they conducted studies on office procedures and information flow in order to develop Office
Information Systems (OIS) like OfficeTalk. At ROLM, Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems, Rulifson's job responsibilities were
more administrative and managerial, and the materials he collected reflect this change in responsibilities. Out of these last
three positions, the collection contains a much larger amount of material from ROLM than from Syntelligence or Sun Microsystems.
The collection also contains manuals from the 1950s and 1960s primarily for IBM and UNIVAC systems.
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1, SRI ARC records, 1961-1997, bulk 1966-1973
Series 2, Xerox PARC records, 1967-1982
Series 3, ROLM, Syntelligence, and Sun Microsystems records, 1981-1992
Series 4, Manuals, 1956-1969
SRI ARC/NIC records, Lot X3578.2006, Computer History Museum
Related Collections at Other Repositories
Douglas Engelbart Symposia Records (SC0561). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Engelbart, D. C., (Douglas Carl), 1925-
International Business Machines
ROLM Corporation
Stanford Research Institute. Augmentation Research Center
Sun Microsystems
Syntelligence, Inc.
Xerox PARC (Firm)
Univac computer