Google Doodle Honours Michael Dertouzos On His Birth Anniversary

Today's Google Doodle pays tribute to computer scientist Michael Dertouzos on his 82nd birth anniversary. Michael Leonidas Dertouzos was a Greek professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science from 1974 to 2001. The noted computer scientist was born in Athens, Greece. 

The doodle has Dertouzos facing away from a black board with chalk in his hand. It also has a few other small pictures of computers and the internet next to him.

He foresaw how the internet would impact the lives of everyday people and even predicted the popularity of personal computers. He helped to maximize the potential of computers at MIT.

Born in Athens, Greece on this day in 1936, Dertouzos was the son of a concert pianist and an admiral in the Greek navy. Upon graduation from Athens College, he attended the University of Arkansas on a Fulbright Scholarship and earned a Ph.D. from MIT, joining the faculty in 1968.

In 1968, he co-founded Computek, Inc., a manufacturer of graphics and intelligent terminals with Marvin C. Lewis and Dr. Huber Graham.

Insisting on the importance of bringing "technology into our lives, and not vice versa," Dertouzos spurred LCS to head up the 1999 Oxygen project in partnership with MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab. The goal of this massive project was to make computers "as natural a part of our environment as the air we breathe."

Dertouzos believed technology was always grounded in his desire to unleash the full potential of humanity.

Google celebrates the genius of this man today.