Scientist inventor of computer graphics wins Kyoto Prize

Kyocera's award in computer science awarded to American scientist to Ivan Sutherland for developing blueprints for modern computer-aided design (CAD), according to the corporate website of the Japanese electronics manufacturer.

As a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1963, Sutherland invented the graphics program Sketchpad.

Development of the first graphics program was the subject of academic thesis, which he wrote under the guidance of the "father" of the information theory of Claude Shannon.

Sketchpad program allows to create image on the screen and save the data in the computer. It is the prototype of the modern computer-aided design and all systems with graphical user interfaces, including Windows and Mac OS.

Professor Sutherland was awarded the gold medal of Kazuo Inamori Foundation, named after the founder of Kyocera Corp, and a cash prize of ¥ 50 million ($ 500 million).


Also, the winners of this year was the Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi and professor of philosophy from India Gayatri Chakrovoty Spivak.

Links: http://news.yahoo.com/us-computer-graphics-scientist-wins-kyoto-prize-111415232--finance.html