MIT: Personal computing pioneer Robert Fano dies
Source: NewsOK
A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer science and electrical engineering professor who helped usher in the personal computing age has died.
The university says Robert Fano died July 13 in Florida. He was 98.
Fano's work in the 1960s on time-sharing systems so multiple people could use a computer at the same time helped pave the way for the more widespread use of computers.
His research spurred data-compression techniques used today in high-definition TVs and computer networks.
He was also one of the world's first open-source advocates who saw computing as a public utility that should be accessible to all.
Fano was born in Italy and moved to the U.S. in 1939. He was on MIT's faculty from 1947 until 1984.
He is survived by three daughters and five grandchildren.
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