Description
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.
Background
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.
Restrictions
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.
Availability
This collection is open for research.