Ken Thompson, the Turing‑award‑winning computer pioneer, co‑created UNIX, contributed to the Multics project, helped develop the C language, and later co‑designed Go at Google, with a life story that blends groundbreaking OS design, hacker culture, and a passion for aviation.
Ken Thompson, a Turing Award laureate, transformed computing by pioneering generic operating system theory, co‑creating UNIX after a failed Multics project, inventing the C language, and later shaping Google’s Go language, all while embodying the hacker spirit of curiosity and fun.
Ken Thompson’s remarkable journey—from early fascination with binary numbers, through winning the Turing Award, building UNIX at Bell Labs, influencing the creation of C, co‑designing Go at Google, and even piloting a MiG‑29—illustrates how curiosity and playfulness can drive lasting innovations in computer science.
Leah Neukirchen uncovered historic Unix passwords, cracked many using John the Ripper and hashcat, and after months of effort Nigel Williams finally revealed Ken Thompson’s long‑uncracked password, which turns out to be a clever chess‑notation hint.
