Wikipedia

John Warnock

For the Northern Irish politician, seeEdmond Warnock.

John Edward Warnock(October 6, 1940 – August 19, 2023) was an Americancomputer scientist,inventor,technology businessman, andphilanthropistbest known for co-foundingAdobe Systems Inc.,the graphics and publishing software company, withCharles Geschkein 1982.[2]Warnock was President of Adobe for his first two years and chairman and CEO for his remaining sixteen years at the company. Although he retired as CEO in 2001, he continued to co-chair the Adobe Board of Directors with Geschke until 2017. Warnock pioneered the development of graphics, publishing, web and electronic document technologies that have revolutionized the field of publishing and visual communications.

John Warnock
Warnock in 2008
Born
John Edward Warnock

(1940-10-06)October 6, 1940
Salt Lake City,Utah, U.S.
DiedAugust 19, 2023(2023-08-19)(aged 82)
Los Altos, California,U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Utah(BS,MS,PhD)
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsUniversity of Utah
Doctoral advisor

Early life and education

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Warnock was born on October 6, 1940, and raised inSalt Lake City,Utah.[3]He failed mathematics in ninth grade before graduating fromOlympus High Schoolin 1958,[4]however, Warnock went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and philosophy, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in electrical engineering (computer science), and an honorary degree in science, all from theUniversity of Utah.[1]At the University of Utah he was a member of the Gamma Beta Chapter of theBeta Theta Pifraternity.[5]He also received an honorary degree from theAmerican Film Institute.[6]He lived in theSan Francisco Bay Areawith his wife Marva M. Warnock, marrying in 1965. Marva is a former partner andgraphic designerat Marsh Design inPalo Alto, California,and is known not only for creating the iconic Adobe logo, but also as a designer for nonprofit organizations.[7]They have three children.[8]

Career

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He is known as the creative driving force behind Adobe System's initial software products:PostScript,Adobe Illustrator,and thePDF,and he continued to be involved in new product development throughout his career. "The thing I really enjoy is the invention process. I enjoy figuring out how to do things other people don't know how to do."[9]

Warnock's earliest publication and subject of his master's thesis was his 1964 proof of a theorem solving theJacobson radicalfor row-finite matrices,[10]which was originally posed by the American mathematicianNathan Jacobsonin 1956.[11]

In his 1969 doctoral thesis, Warnock invented theWarnock algorithmforhidden surface determinationincomputer graphics.[12]It works byrecursive subdivisionof a scene until areas are obtained that are trivial to compute. It solves the problem of rendering a complicated image by avoiding the problem. If the scene is simple enough to compute then it is rendered; otherwise it is divided into smaller parts and the process is repeated.[13]Warnock noted that for this work he received "the dubious distinction of having written the shortest doctoral thesis in University of Utah history".[4]The Warnock algorithm solving the hidden surface problem enabled computers to render solid objects at a time when most computer renderings were only line drawings and was featured on the cover of Scientific American in 1970 with accompanying article byIvan Sutherland.[14]

In 1976, while Warnock worked atEvans & Sutherland,aSalt Lake City–based computer graphics company, the concepts of thePostScriptlanguage were seeded.[15]Prior to co-founding Adobe with Geschke, Warnock worked with Geschke atXerox's Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC), where he had started in 1978.[16]Unable to convince Xerox management of the approach to commercialize theInterPressgraphics language for controlling printing onanycomputer and printer,[17]he and Geschke left Xerox[16]to start Adobe in 1982, naming it afterAdobe Creek,which ran behind both their homes.[3]They initially hired two computer scientists (Bill Paxton and Doug Brotz) and two electronics designers (Tom Boynton and Dan Putnam) from PARC.[18][19]At their new company, they developed from scratch a similar technology, PostScript, and brought it to market for Apple'sLaserWriterin 1985.[20]Appleco-founderSteve Jobssaid: "When that first page came out of the LaserWriter, I was blown away...No one had seen anything like this before. I held this page up in my hand and said, ‘Who will not want that?’ I knew then, as did John, that this was going to have a profound impact.”[3]Adobe's PostScript technology made it possible to print high-resolution text and images from a computer, revolutionizing media and making desktop publishing feasible.[21]

In late 1986, Warnock had inventedAdobe Illustrator,a computer drawing program that used lines andbézier curvesto render infinitely scalable graphics. He initially developed it to automate many of the manual tasks utilized by his wife, Marva, a graphic designer.[22]Illustrator was released in early 1987.[23]

In the spring of 1991, Warnock outlined a system called "Camelot", inventing thePortable Document Format(PDF) file-format.[9]The goal of Camelot was to "effectively capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of these documents anywhere, and view and print these documents on any machines [sic]". Warnock's document contemplated:[24]

Imagine if the IPS (Interchange PostScript) viewer is also equipped with text searching capabilities. In this case the user could find all documents that contain a certain word or phrase, and then view that word or phrase in context within the document. Entire libraries could be archived in electronic form...

The new PDF format, though, was slow to gain industry traction and Warnock noted that "the industry 'did not get it'".[25]

One of Adobe's populartypefaces,Warnock,is named after him.[26]

Warnock held twenty patents.[9][27]In addition to Adobe Systems, he was or had been on the board of directors atebrary,[28]Hiball,[29]Knight-Ridder,Octavo Corporation,Netscape Communications,andSalon Media Group.[6][30]Warnock was a past chairman of theTech Museum of Innovationin San Jose.[6]He was on the board of trustees of theAmerican Film Institute,theSundance Instituteand theFolger Shakespeare Library.[6][30]

His hobbies included photography,skiing,web development,painting,hiking,curationof rare scientific books, and historicalNative Americanobjects.[31]

Philanthropy

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A strong supporter of higher education, Warnock and his wife, Marva, have supported three presidential-endowed chairs in computer science, mathematics, and fine arts at theUniversity of Utah,[32]and also an endowed chair in medical research atStanford University.[33]In 2003, Warnock and his wife donated 200,000 shares ofAdobe Systems(valued at over $5.7 million)[34]to the University of Utah as the main gift for a new engineering building.[35]The John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building was completed in 2007 and houses theScientific Computing and Imaging Institute[36]and the Dean of theUniversity of Utah College of Engineering.[37]John and Marva have also personally assisted with cataract surgeries led byGeoffrey Tabinon missions to reverse blindness inleast developed countries.[7]They endowed a chair at theMoran Eye Center,which supports work to treat preventable blindness in Utah and around the world.[2]John was also the Founding Chairman of theTech Museum of Innovationfrom 1995 to 1999.[2]

Warnock, the commencement speaker for the University of Utah Class of 2020, advised: "The rest of your life is not a spectator sport. Your job in life is to be an active player, to make the world a better place.”[38]

Death

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Warnock died in Los Altos, California on August 19, 2023, at the age of 82, from pancreatic cancer.[9][3]

Recognition

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The recipient of numerous scientific andtechnicalawards, Warnock won the Software Systems Award from theAssociation for Computing Machineryin 1989.[39]In 1995 Warnock received theUniversity of UtahDistinguished Alumnus Award and in 1999 he was inducted as a fellow of theAssociation for Computing Machinery.Warnock was awarded theEdwin H. Land Medalfrom theOptical Society of Americain 2000.[40]In 2002, he was made a fellow of theComputer History Museumfor "his accomplishments in the commercialization of desktop publishing with Chuck Geschke and for innovations in scalable type, computer graphics and printing."[41]Oxford University'sBodleian Librarybestowed theBodley Medalon Warnock in November 2003.[42][43]In 2004, Warnock received theLovelace Medalfrom theBritish Computer Societyin London.[44]In October 2006, Warnock—along with Adobe co-founder Charles Geschke—received theAmerican Electronics Association's Annual Medal of Achievement Award, being the first software executives to receive this award. In 2008, Warnock and Geschke received theComputer Entrepreneur Awardfrom theIEEE Computer Society"for inventing PostScript and PDF and helping to launch the desktop publishing revolution and change the way people engage with information and entertainment".[45]In September 2009, Warnock and Geschke were chosen to receive theNational Medal of Technology and Innovation,one of the nation's highest honors bestowed on scientists, engineers and inventors.[46][47]In 2010, Warnock and Geschke received theMarconi Prize,an honor specifically for contributions to information science and communications.[48]

Warnock was a member of theNational Academy of Engineering,[6]theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[6]and theAmerican Philosophical Society,[49]the latter being America's oldest learned society.[50]

Warnock received honorary degrees from theUniversity of Utah,[6]theAmerican Film Institute,[6]andThe University of Nottinghamin the UK.[51]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abLerner, Evan (August 21, 2023)."Remembering John Warnock".The John and Marcia Price College of Engineering at the University of Utah.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  2. ^abc"John Warnock Obituary".Salt Lake City, Utah: The Salt Lake Tribune. August 24, 2023.RetrievedAugust 26,2023.
  3. ^abcdRosenwald, Michael S. (August 22, 2023)."John Warnock, Adobe CEO who led desktop publishing revolution, dies at 82".Washington Post.RetrievedAugust 24,2023.
  4. ^abJason Matthew Smith (Spring 2013)."The Innovator: University of Utah alum and Adobe pioneer John Warnock recollects his path to a publishing revolution"(PDF).Continuum: The Magazine of the University of Utah.University of Utah. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on June 1, 2013.RetrievedNovember 28,2014.
  5. ^"Famous Betas – Gamma Theta Chapter".wsubeta.org.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  6. ^abcdefghBiancuzzi, Federico; Warden, Shane (March 28, 2009).Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages.O'Reilly Media. p. 456.ISBN978-0-596-51517-1.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  7. ^ab"Finding Solutions: John and Marva Warnock Supporting Moran Research to Cure Blinding Diseases".Moran Eye Center News.University of Utah Health. March 6, 2019.RetrievedAugust 24,2023.
  8. ^Harrington, Jim (August 20, 2023)."Adobe co-founder John Warnock, a giant in the tech world, dies at 82".The Mercury News.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  9. ^abcdClay Risen (August 24, 2023)."John Warnock, Inventor of the PDF, Dies at 82".New York Times.New York City, New York.RetrievedAugust 25,2023.
  10. ^Sexauer NE and; Warnock, J. E (1969)."The Radical of the Row-Finite Matrices over an Arbitrary Ring".Transactions of the American Mathematical Society.139.American Mathematical Society: 281–295.doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1969-0238889-9.JSTOR1995321.
  11. ^Jacobson, Nathan(1956),Structure of rings,American Mathematical Society, Colloquium Publications, vol. 37, Providence, R.I.:American Mathematical Society,p. 200,hdl:2027/uc1.b4062890,MR0081264.
  12. ^Warnock, John (1969).A hidden surface algorithm for computer generated halftone pictures(PDF)(Ph.D.). University of Utah.The algorithm was Warnock's doctoral thesis.32 pages.
  13. ^Daintith, John; Wright, Edmund (2009).Oxford Dictionary of Computing.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-923400-4.,608 pages
  14. ^Ivan E. Sutherland (June 1, 1970)."Computer Displays".Scientific American.RetrievedAugust 11,2023.
  15. ^Perry, Tekla S. (May 1, 1988)."Inventing Postscript, the Tech That Took the Pain out of Printing".IEEE Spectrum.RetrievedAugust 23,2023.
  16. ^abProven, Liam (August 21, 2023)."RIP: Computer graphics pioneer John Warnock dies at 82".The Register.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  17. ^"Charles Geschke and John Warnock | Lemelson".lemelson.mit.edu.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  18. ^"John Warnock, who helped invent the PDF, dies at 82 – CBS News".CBS News.August 21, 2023.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  19. ^"Founding and Growing Adobe Systems, Inc"(PDF).IEEE.June 18, 2019.RetrievedAugust 25,2023.
  20. ^Kan, Michael (August 21, 2023)."John Warnock, Adobe Co-Founder Who Helped Invent the PDF, Dies at 82".PCMag Middle East.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  21. ^Diaz, Jesus (August 21, 2023)."The legendary John Warnock forever changed the way we communicate".Fast Company.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  22. ^"John Edward Warnock (Obituary)".Los Altos, California: Los Altos Town Crier. August 31, 2023.RetrievedAugust 31,2023.
  23. ^Anubhav Rohatgi (March 23, 2015)."Adobe Explains It All: Adobe Illustrator".Adobe Corporate Communications.RetrievedAugust 11,2023.
  24. ^Warnock, John (1991)."The Camelot Project"(PDF).PlanetPDF. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 4, 2009.This document describes the base technology and ideas behind the project named 'Camelot.' This project's goal is to solve a fundamental problem [...] there is no universal way to communicate and view... printed information electronically.
  25. ^Eve, Martin Paul (2022)."New Leaves: Riffling the History of Digital Pagination".Book History.25(2): 491.doi:10.1353/bh.2022.0017.S2CID254221430.RetrievedAugust 25,2023.
  26. ^"Warnock".Adobe Fonts.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  27. ^Lovos, Milagros (April 4, 2018)."John Warnock".IEEE Computer Society.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  28. ^"Publishing start-up captures Adobe veteran".CNET.January 2, 2002.RetrievedSeptember 7,2023.
  29. ^Martine Paris (February 12, 2021)."Your Valentine's Day Hotel Might Have This Buzzy AI Bed".Forbes.RetrievedSeptember 7,2023.
  30. ^ab"Encyclopedia".Boston, Massachusetts:Cengage Group.RetrievedAugust 29,2023.
  31. ^Nagy C, et al. (2009). Warnock J and Warnock M (ed.).The Splendid Heritage: Perspectives on American Indian Art.Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 223.ISBN978-0874809602.OCLC294998662.
  32. ^Brooks, Matt; Lofton, Shelby (August 20, 2023)."Adobe co-founder, U alum, John Warnock dies at 82".KSLTV.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  33. ^Gallardo, Margarita."Jeffrey named to new Warnock endowed professorship".med.stanford.edu.Stanford University School of Medicine.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  34. ^"U Receives Cornerstone Gift for New Engineering Building: President J. Bernard Machen Announces Plans for the John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building".University of Utah.2003. Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2012.RetrievedMarch 21,2009.The stock currently valued at over $5.7M is the cornerstone gift of a $13M capital campaign to construct a new engineering building dedicated to undergraduate instruction and emerging areas of research.
  35. ^"U Receives Cornerstone Gift for New Engineering Building: President J. Bernard Machen Announces Plans for the John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building".University of Utah.2003. Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2012.RetrievedMarch 21,2009.
  36. ^"SCI Starts New Phase in the Warnock Engineering Building".sci.utah.edu.Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  37. ^"John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building Opens New Era of Exploration and Discovery – UNews Archive".archive.unews.utah.edu.The University of Utah.February 8, 2007.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  38. ^"Remembering John Warnock, 1941-1923".Synthesis, A College of Science Publication.University of Utah. October 1, 2024.RetrievedOctober 11,2024.
  39. ^"Software Systems Award Awardees List".RetrievedSeptember 19,2009.
  40. ^"Edwin H. Land Medal Winners List".RetrievedSeptember 19,2009.
  41. ^CHM."John Warnock – CHM Fellow Award Winner".Archived fromthe originalon April 3, 2015.RetrievedMarch 30,2015.
  42. ^"Speech of welcome at the Bodleian Library's San Francisco dinner, 13 November 2003".Archived fromthe originalon March 3, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 18,2009.Speech byBodleian Library's 23rd Librarian,Reg Carr
  43. ^"Speech of welcome to the Bodley Medal Event".Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 19,2009.Bodleian Librarian Speech on History of the Bodley Medal
  44. ^"2004 winner".Archived fromthe originalon February 12, 2012.RetrievedDecember 10,2008.2004 winner, Dr John E Warnock, Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems
  45. ^Tyrus Manuel."2008 Computer Entrepreneur Award: Charles M. Geschke and John E. Warnock".RetrievedSeptember 19,2009.
  46. ^Steve Johnson (September 17, 2009)."Adobe co-founders to receive national science award".RetrievedSeptember 19,2009.
  47. ^"The National Medal of Technology and Innovation".United States Patent and Trademark Office..Retrieved September 20, 2009.
  48. ^"Geschke and Warnock Revolutionized Industry-Standard Printing and Imaging Technology".The Marconi Society. October 15, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon October 17, 2012.RetrievedOctober 10,2010.
  49. ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.RetrievedApril 23,2021.
  50. ^"About the APS".amphilsoc.org.American Philosophical Society.RetrievedAugust 22,2023.
  51. ^"Honorary Degree for John Warnock".University of Nottingham. July 20, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon October 7, 2012.RetrievedJuly 24,2010.

Further reading

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