Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The central people in NTNF were very sceptical about the further development of
SIMULA in 1965-69. Without the profit from the sale of the surplus computer capac-
ity of the UNIVAC 1107, SIMULA as an object-oriented language would never have
taken place. Though Nygaard did not seek direct conflicts with funding authorities, he
did not always show his diplomatic side when in their company
8
.
His views on the relation between research, science, and politics were controver-
sial, in particular in conservative circles. One episode recorded in [20] illustrates his
opinions on this question
9
.
However, in the years 1990-2002 Nygaard's work got recognition among his peers
and in society that amply compensated for his many years of scientific and political
seminal uphill activities. The list of prizes awarded him is impressively long, but what
strikes one most is the spread of the awarding institutions. It started with the Norbert
Wiener prize (1990) from The American Association of Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility, as the first non-US citizen, “
for his pioneering work in Norway
to develop Participatory Design, which seeks the direct involvement of workers in the
development of the computer-based tools they use.
” He was appointed Doctor Honoris
Causa at Lund University, Sweden (1990) and at Aalborg University, Denmark
(1991), and received Computerworld Honorary Prize for “
making Norway interna-
tionally well-known in information technology
” in 1992. The Norwegian Data Asso-
ciation awarded Nygaard and Dahl its first Rosing Honorary Prize in 1999 and the
Object Management Group awarded him an Honorary Fellowship for “
his originating
of object technology concepts
” in 2000. Later that year, Nygaard and Dahl were both
made Commander of the Order of Saint Olav by the King of Norway. There is no
Nobel Prize for computer scientists, but when Nygaard and Dahl together received the
ACM Turing Award in 2001 and the IEEE John von Neumann Medal in 2002, it was
in recognition of work that clearly was of Nobel laureate stature. Proof of the wide
international respect for Nygaard and his work is also demonstrated by the Nygaard
memorial page kept by his institute [13].
After the untimely death of both Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard in 2002, As-
sociation Internationale pour les Technologies Objets (AITO) established an AITO
Dahl/Nygaard Prize in their name. The prize is awarded annually for “
significant
technical contributions to the field of Object-Orientation
”.
8
In 1968, when NCC celebrated its tenth year as a research institute, Nygaard's principal
speech reminded the notabilities present from NTNF about the relation between researchers
and research funders: “
It is your money, but it is our lives.
” This reminder was applauded by
NCC employees, but did not go well with the high guests.
9
“I remember a lecture about the Iron and Metal Project, around 1974, for a group of very
promising and very career-oriented executives in their mid-thirties. The atmosphere was
reeking of hostility, and I got the question:
'Does not what you have done belong in politics rather than science?'
'This question may be answered with Yes or with No,' I said. 'If you regard what you have
learnt at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim and the Norwegian School of
Business Administration as belonging to politics, then what I have told you also belong to
politics, and the answer is Yes.
If you do regard what you have learnt there as science and not politics, then what we have
done also belong to science, and the answer is No. Please, pick the answer you want'.
I must admit that the answer was not appreciated.”
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